To Befriend a Prince
by Mortimer S
Summary: Kitaek has lived a peaceful life- until her father's untimely death. Already, she has been accused of witchcraft and left to die out in the middle of nowhere. Two traveling vampires rescue her and take her along, but they get sidetracked in their journey.
1. Guilty

A/N: Just so you know, tindrin, silvaen, and nitor are other intelligent species, besides humans. So are Alio, but I probably won't mention them. This story takes place in a different "worldtime," or dimension.

xxxxxx

I couldn't believe it. But there it was, right in front of me. My father's body, badly mangled, laid the shoddy casket. It didn't seem right to bury him in this; a carpenter should at least be laid to rest in one of his own creations. But I had no say in this, I'm just another mouth to feed, another burden to the village. All because of what I was born as. I'm a tindrin, while most of the town is human or silvaen. There's nothing really wrong with being tindrin, but in this place, tindrin girls are nigh useless. We have little physical strength and can't do farm work very well. I have clumsy hands, and couldn't even be of help in a household, so there's definitely no hope for me. I just wondered what would happen now. There's no one to take over Father's business, he never had sons. My mother died shortly after giving birth, and he never remarried.

The priest chanted a few things, meaningless phrases meant to comfort. The casket was closed, and my father was lowered into the ground. I wasn't even crying, and this I couldn't believe. How could I be so heartless, emotionless? But I _was_ feeling something, just not showing it. It was far too much to show.

xxxxxx

That was a week ago. Now I was in the old pillory, feeling broken and mindless. The inquisitor's deadly voice rang clear.

"Kitaek Fen, you have been found guilty of all charges of witchcraft. You will be taken over the mountains, to the barbarians of Sonfun to meet your fate." A shocked silence filled the room. But I didn't really care. My father was dead and I was no use to the world. Wasn't it better that I die? Technically, of course, that wasn't a sentence of death. Since I was not yet of age, they weren't allowed to execute me. But they might as well have, because once the monsters and savages of Sonfun have gotten you, you were as good as dead. Or worse.

I was glad at least that no one knew my real name. It sounded silly, but my father told me that giving out your birth name, or 'spirit' name, was dangerous. I couldn't see why, but he'd never been wrong, and I'd listened to him all these years. He renamed me Kitaek, and I used his last name like was expected. No one was ever suspicious. Safirus Akita Elio is the name that my mother gave me before she died, and that is my 'spirit' name. I liked how it sounded, and it was a shame that I didn't get to use it.

The villagers filed out of the chapel, which was used as a temporary courthouse. Someone grabbed my arms, tied them, and unlocked the pillory. I was roughly dragged outside through the back, but I didn't bother to resist. Whoever was leading me picked me up and threw me into the back of a cart, like cargo. That's probably just what I was, anyway. The cart started to move, and it was awfully uncomfortable bouncing up and down and into the other things in the cart. Each impact jarred my bones, and made me feel all hollow inside.

After what seemed like forever, I finally managed to get myself to a sitting position, which was only slightly less painful than before. By the time we reached the base of the pass through the mountains, it felt as if I'd been shaken to pieces.

The cart stopped, and the men began to eat. Apparently, they did not see the need to feed me too, as I would be dead soon. I cursed them with swear words that little girls shouldn't know, but they only laughed, so I shut up and saved my strength.

When they'd finished their meal, the wagon started to move again. I'd readied myself for the ordeal ahead, huddling into a tiny corner, but it still hurt. We rattled through the never-ending maze of rock and snow, and eventually I became tired enough to fall asleep.

"Ow!" I cried. A man pulled me off the cart, bruising my arm in the process and waking me unceremoniously from my fitful sleep. It appeared that we had arrived at a huge, wrought iron gate, with strange carvings up the sides and a large skull gracing the center. It was locked with a huge padlock that didn't seem to have a keyhole.

"How do we get in?" the second man grunted, climbing from the cart to study the door. That was exactly what I was wondering. Maybe the sign had something useful to say, but I couldn't read very well. And even if I could read, I doubt I would have been able to decipher this message, which was probably written in a different language.

"We gotta pay ter get in." the man who had so rudely shoved me off the cart muttered. I was shocked that he could read the sign. Then I realized that he probably couldn't, and that he had used common sense. I was wondering how we would pay, when I felt a screaming pain across my arm.

I cursed loudly in another language. I forgot which one it was though. Apparently, the pain would be from a large gash so generously given to me by the man restraining me. It didn't hurt as much after the initial shock. I wondered if he was just going to kill me now and say that the Sonfians did it. But no, he wasn't cutting me anymore. The next thing I knew, I was being shoved at the gate. My injured arm slammed into the lock, and I screamed. That was completely unexpected.

The blood that got smeared on the lock vanished, and the gate opened up. That was definitely unexpected. But I didn't get to gape, because the man chucked me back into the cart and it started to move again. As we passed through, I felt as if we were entering the gates of hell, or something like that. It was not a pleasant feeling. I still couldn't believe it. _Blood_ was what you had to pay to enter this place? No wonder they called it a monster's country.

There were more pressing matters at hand, however. Like the fact that I was bleeding freely from this wound that the men did not even bother to try to fix. I think it may have started clotting, but I might have been hallucinating from loss of blood. I was pretty sure that I would pass out soon. But then the wagon stopped again. It looked like we were in the middle of nowhere, away from any semblance of road. I guessed they were just going to let me bleed to death out here.

The man who'd been driving was digging a pit. I wondered idly if they were going to wait for me to die, and then bury me. It didn't seem so however, because he stuck a huge wooden pole into the hole and filled it in. Apparently, they were going to tie me to a stake and leave me here. Probably not a great position to have been in, when I was bleeding to death. They might as well have waited, I wouldn't last long.

Once they'd secured me to the stake, a few curses and a scream later, they eyed me nervously, then jumped back into the cart and flew off. I hoped they would fall into a ditch and get eaten or something. I felt woozy. I thought I was almost all out of blood. It was already dark. I bet the smell of my blood would attract wild animals, and then they'd pick my bones clean when I was dead, and… Thinking like that didn't make me feel any better, really.

The glowing yellow eyes that were coming straight at me weren't making me feel too great either. I was probably going to die right then. Those eyes definitely belonged to some sort of beast that would jump on me and rip me apart. My eyes clenched shut involuntarily. I readied myself for the claws to tear into me. But none came. I opened my eyes slowly. There, staring at me, were those eyes, right in front of my face! I couldn't help but scream. The owner of those eyes backed off. Whatever I had expected, it was not what happened next.

"Oh no! Not again! I always scare the good looking girls!" a boy's voice wailed. I shut up, because that was just completely random. Peering through the gloom, I saw the owner of those strange eyes. And it was definitely not a wild animal. This silvaen boy, with grayish hair and a soft face was standing there, muttering about how he could never get a date. This was definitely really strange. He was wearing really odd clothes too, sort of like a robe with silver clasps and random pockets. There was a red neckerchief tied around his neck, with a strange flower like crest embroidered on the corner.

"Sirros! What in the name of Darkness is all that racket? I hope you've dragged us off the road for a good reason." a crisp and proper voice called out in an annoyed tone.

"Milord, there's this young lady here, and oh… she was tied to a stake, that's bad isn't it? Well, I could smell her from the road, and…" the boy babbled on. At least these people didn't _look_ like savages. But looks could be deceiving.

"How many times have I told you to quit the honorary titles in public? If this is a joke, I'll throw you in the dungeons for a good month! You really…" the owner of the polished voice stopped talking when he saw me. The boy, who was probably Sirros, regained his composure.

"Ridillyn, this is…" he lost it again when he realized that he did not have my name, and started to panic. Smooth.

"Right now, I don't care who she is. Untie her, you idiot. She'll catch her death out here, and we really don't need _more_ dead people." the second boy, who was apparently Ridillyn, ordered. He was dressed just as strangely as Sirros. "How exactly did you come to be staked out here anyway?" he asked me. Well, they didn't seem to want me dead, right? Yet.

"Well, my father died, and then they accused me of witchcraft, and then I got staked out here, to die, or get killed by vampires and cannibals, so…" my voice slurred, and my vision clouded. I fought to stay conscious.

"Vampires and cannibals? That's horrible!" Sirros cried. Ridillyn slapped him upside the head.

"Cloth head, don't sound so shocked, you _are_ a vampire. And keep working on the ropes." he snapped. Was I hearing things from blood loss, or did Ridillyn just say that Sirros was a _vampire?_ And it would follow that he was too! Sure enough, I saw that he had dark red eyes. And my worst suspicions were confirmed as Sirros made it to the bonds on my wrists.

"She was bleeding! So that's what that smell was!" he exclaimed, a bit too cheerfully. I flinched at the look in his eyes. The look was promptly wiped away when Ridillyn hit him again.

"Don't act like an animal." he chastised. I sighed in relief, but that relief was short lived. "Miss, would you allow me to clean that injury of yours?" he asked me politely. That was awkward. On the one hand, it would probably do me good to get my arm cleaned and bandaged. On the other hand, he was a vampire! The first hand won when I experienced another bout of dizziness and a stinging pain in my arm.

"Fine." I muttered painfully. He turned and shot a smug look at Sirros, who was gaping incredulously. Then he bent down, held out my arm carefully, and started _licking_ it. His eyes were closed, and he seemed to be enjoying himself immensely. Figured. When he was done, he reached into one of his sleeves.

"I should really be more organized." he muttered. I wondered what that meant. After rummaging for a bit, he withdrew his hand, clutching a crumpled piece of paper, which he smoothed out. He reached in again and pulled out a long, crooked, stick. I gaped open mouthed at this. He'd gotten those things out of his _sleeve_. Ignoring my surprise, he glanced at the paper, picked up the stick and tapped my arm with it. I looked down, and started gaping again. I must have looked like some sort of hyperventilating fish by then. The wound was sealed, and starting to scab over. That kind of thing didn't usually happen within seconds.

"See, I told you we might need that spell." he said to Sirros with a supercilious air. "Miss, you still haven't given us your name."

"Kitaek, but please call me Kite." I muttered. I didn't really like being called Kitaek, it sounded too formal.

"Well then, Kite, would you like to come with us? We're headed to Merlis; they're having a market night Amoreve. And it's already Cyneve, we've only tonight to arrive there! Make haste, Sirros, or we'll miss all the decent goods." he shouted the last part, as he was already starting in what was hopefully the direction of the road. Sirros was dashing after him, and I didn't fancy being left behind.

It didn't take long to catch up to them, even in my state of lethargy, which was really strange. I'd thought vampires could move really fast. Then again, I'd also thought that vampires didn't exist. Perhaps Ridillyn would tell me what was myth and what was fact.

"Hey, I have a question. Well, lots of questions."

"Ask away miss, ask away." he said, still ambling along.

"Well, I just want to know more about vampires. Could you run super fast like the stories say?"

"Harrumph, I wish. Then we'd be in Merlis by now, and I wouldn't have to deal with Sirros' awful driving."

"Why don't you drive yourself, Your Highness?" Sirros snapped from behind us. I still had enough energy to snicker.

"One more accidental honorary title, even in sarcasm, and I'll have you on only rimwood for a year." Ridillyn threatened. I had no idea what that meant, but it was probably bad, for Sirros stiffened behind me. "And I concede that my driving is even worse than yours. But your driving is still awful, there's no denying that!"

Sirros grumbled something incomprehensible, and Ridillyn laughed. I guess vampires did have good hearing.

"Are vampires really afraid of sunlight?" I asked him.

"No, but everyone in Sonfun sleeps during the day. It's just how it is, we're more used to the dark." he responded.

"Is everyone in Sonfun a vampire?" If he answered yes, I think I might faint.

"Of course not! We have normal people and necromancers too. Unless you count necromancers as vampires."

"No humans though." Sirros added. No humans? Three-quarters of my tiny village was human, and they were telling me that no one in the entire _country_ was human? Ridillyn must have seen my shocked look, because he explained.

"Humans tend to stay away. They have less magical potential, so it's harder for them to make decent livings here." Wait, wait, _magical potential?_

"Are you telling me that magic is _real?_" I asked him incredulously. He laughed again.

"Of course, how do you think I healed you so fast? But magic isn't just waving wands and spouting nonsense, it's actually a branch of science. Or it used to be, when science still existed as a subject. It takes study and hard work to understand magic." I didn't care what it was! Magic was _real!_ Yes! I felt a bit light headed. It probably wasn't good to overexcite myself.

We'd finally reached the road. Parked next to it was another cart, but it had seats and handrails, and looked much more welcoming than my arrival vehicle. Sirros hopped up onto the driving perch and picked up the reins and the whip. Ridillyn climbed in and helped me up, and we settled in the seats. Sirros cracked the whip, but nothing happened. The horse made a sound similar to laughter.

"I'm sorry Kysis, I keep forgetting!" Sirros muttered, flushing. The horse 'laughed' again and started off. The ride was much more pleasant then my previous one. For one, the cart didn't bounce as much, and the cushions softened the impact. I also wasn't tied up. Finally, I had someone friendly to talk to as well. Or at least, he seemed friendly. I still felt wary trusting a Sonfian vampire.

"So, where are you from?" Ridillyn asked me.

"Elta, a bit off of Ken's Wood. It's a farming village." I answered. He nodded.

"Merlis is a farming village too. But there aren't really many mortals there, mostly vampires. I don't think they have any necromancers though, not even the town leader is one. Come to think of it, I don't think they _have_ a town leader." he mused, shaking his head.

"If there aren't many mortals, what do they grow?"

"Rimwood trees." he replied. Probably seeing the confused expression on my face, he added, "Vampires take blood for the spiritual energy it provides. Rimwood berries actually supply nearly as much spiritual energy as blood, although they taste horrendous. The poorer citizens who can't afford to buy blood scrape by on it." That explained his earlier threat to Sirros.

"You can buy blood?" I asked. How strange!

"Yes, some mortals sell their own blood for money. Or they use it to pay for their purchases. It is, again, good for the poorer denizens of the country. Come to think of it, your blood would go for an uncommonly high amount. Do try and remember that if you ever need money badly."

"Why would my blood go for higher than someone else's?" I asked, perplexed. It made no sense.

"You're a young female tindrin. That's as high quality as blood gets." he explained, smirking. I gaped at him. So, while being a tiny tindrin girl was a curse in Elta, it was a blessing in Sonfun? I guess that was good for me, since I was in Sonfun. But wouldn't the quality of my blood provoke vampires to attack me? I shuddered. Ridillyn seemed to read my thoughts. Come to think of it, he might have been doing just that.

"Murder is illegal here, just like in any other respectable country." he said. His crimson eyes were filled with mirth. I blushed. The cart jumped into the air, and Sirros apologized profusely. The horse seemed to be 'laughing' again.

"Are you reading my mind?" I asked, turning my attention back to Ridillyn.

"Of course not, that's impossible. Then again, your face tells all, so I might as well be." I blushed even more, if that was possible. "Stop that, or I might break the law." he said again. I stopped blushing immediately. "Just teasing." he raised his eyebrows, a bemused expression on his face. I tried as hard as I could not to blush again, but I failed miserably. "You know, I don't think I've ever seen anyone change colors that much in such a short time. Except perhaps that time when I nearly strangled Sir Atlee of the Lytian Knights, I think he went from white to red to purple to blue and then a strange green…" I couldn't help but giggle, which made no sense because strangling people, especially one of the Lytian Knights, was not a laughing matter. But Ridillyn snickered too, and that made me feel better. Wait, the fact that a vampire was laughing about strangling someone should not have been making me feel better! What had gotten into me? But it was only _nearly_ strangled, not completely, so…

I stopped having this strange internal conversation with myself when I felt another wave of dizziness. I yawned, and Ridillyn saw.

"Kite, you should go to sleep. Blood loss is best remedied by rest and a decent healing potion. I'm sure we can get some in Merlis, but I don't have any healing potions with me. So you should just get some sleep." he murmured. I nodded and leaned back, and soon enough, I was dead to the world.

xxxxxx

I woke in the middle of the afternoon. Ridillyn was curled up in the seat, his hair down and covering his face. He stirred when I sat up. The cart was stopped at the outskirts of town, and I could see Sirros sprawled out over the driver's seat. The horse was nowhere in sight. Ridillyn stood and stretched.

"Kite, make sure you call me Aire in front of other people here, alright?" he said to me as he was stretching. I narrowed my eyes in suspicion. Why would he want me to call him something else in front of others? Was he some sort of escaped fugitive or something?

"Why?" He sighed. He better have a good excuse!

"Er, well, just do it, please." That was really suspicious.

"Tell me why." I demanded.

"There's a crazed murderer after me and I don't want to be seen." he said. No way was I falling for that.

"Tell me the truth. If there was a crazed murderer after you, you wouldn't be going about buying things, would you?"

"Fine. I'll tell you. I'm the crown prince of Sonfun, heir apparent to the throne. I'm out here to escape from the castle a bit, and I want the people here to treat me like I'm just another citizen, not like royalty. There. Now don't tell anyone else." I stared at him incredulously, but then I realized that it all made sense. Sirros kept slipping up and calling him things like 'Milord' and 'Your Highness,' and he said something about dungeons the first time. I nodded at him.

"Alright, I'll call you Aire." I said.

"If you want proof..." he lifted up his right sleeve. Burned into his arm, in great detail, was a huge version of the crest on the corner of Sirros' neckerchief. Around the border was written, in curled script, _"Blood Red, Gold and Blue, Nosferatu are unfair, Royalty too. I am both, Woe for you, for I am the unfairest of them all." _Well, that was special…

"Oh. Er, that's interesting." I say. Ridillyn was shaking with laughter. I didn't see what was so humorous.

"The expression on your face." He answered my unasked question.

"Are you sure you're not reading my mind?"

"Definitely." He looked around, then jabbed the air. Sirros yelped and sat up, making the cart wobble. Was that air poke magic? "Come on, we're visiting Phaeon's." Was that the name of a store or something? "Phaeon is Astromid's sister." he said by way of explanation. Sirros went off after we got down, probably going to park the cart somewhere safe.

"I'm lost, who's Astromid?" I asked Ridillyn.

"Astromid was Sirros' master before she was destroyed. We still don't know who did it, but she was definitely murdered." He just kept making more questions for me, didn't he?

"What do you mean, Sirros' master?"

"Sirros is a converted vampire. That means that he is the freed servant of a necromancer. His necromancer just happens to be dead. I, however, am a true vampire, born of generations of careful royal inbreeding." Ridillyn grimaced, revealing half a mouthful of sharp teeth. I guess vampires had more than just a pair of fangs.

"How many types of vampires are there?" I asked. This was extremely confusing.

"Only those two. Unless you count necromancers and fairies as vampires."

"I thought fairies were those fluttery butterfly people." He looked at me oddly before cackling really loudly. Since it was broad daylight, there wasn't anyone around, and it looked really creepy.

"Fluttery butterfly people? That's about as far from fairy as you can get. Fairies are humanoid bat like creatures with approximately seven foot wingspans and a lust for taking life. They are quick hunters, but very loud. However, they can disorient flying creatures with their supersonic emissions."

"Oh." Right, I felt really stupid right then.

"Here we are, Phaeon's place." We arrived in front of a clean looking hut. Ridillyn knocked on the door, and a minute later, a disheveled white haired nitor lady with violet eyes opened it. I'd never seen a nitor before, but I could tell that she was one. For one, she didn't look human, silvaen, or tindrin, so she had to be that. Also, only a nitor could have violet eyes _and_ white hair at the same time, because only tindrins and nitori could have white hair, and only silvae and nitori ever had violet eyes.

"Oh, Aire, what a pleasant surprise! Why this time of day though?" she had a slight accent, but I couldn't place what it was. "And who is this?" she exclaimed at the sight of me.

"I'm Kite." I supplied. Phaeon nodded. At least, I assume that she was Phaeon. She invited us in, and we sat down at the table. The place was pretty simple, with a table, a small kitchen, and a fireplace. Doors led to what I supposed were the bedrooms.

"Pleasant to meet you Kite, I am Phaeon. Aire, is Sirros with you?" she asked Ridillyn.

"Of course, how else could I have gotten here all the way from Kastinon?" I'm pretty sure Kastinon was the capital city.

"You could have rounded." Phaeon says. I wondered what that meant.

"And you think it wouldn't have attracted attention if a simple lad like me appeared in a puff of smoke and a glowing blue pentacle in the middle of town?" I guess that was what rounding was. More magic.

"Harrumph. Simple lad, I'm sure. What's that silver streak on your neckerchief?" Ridillyn looked up innocently and shifted the cloth around his neck to hide as much of the silver as possible. There was a knock on the door. I assumed it was Sirros. Phaeon went over and opened the door. Sure enough, there he was, standing at the threshold, but behind him was a tall silvae girl with tired eyes and short raven hair. Her neck cloth was purple and black.

"Kysis, how are you? No offense, but I think you should stay in the stables. If you transformed inside the house, I doubt you would be able to fit through the door." The girl named Kysis nodded reluctantly and turned around.

"Who was that?" I asked.

"Kysis is the night mare who pulled our cart. As the name implies, they only show their true forms at night." Ridillyn told me nonchalantly. I couldn't believe that she was one and the same as the horse that had been pulling us along. She bore no resemblance to it except for the color of her hair.

Suddenly I felt exhausted. I yawned, and Phaeon saw me this time. She insisted that we spent the rest of the day there, so that we'd be up and ready for the night to come. We were lead into a room with two cots. Two? But we had three people! Maybe Phaeon didn't have another cot or something like that. Ridillyn probably saw my face, because he answered my unasked question. Again.

"I sleep on the floor." I was about to ask why, but once again, he answered before I could. "I levitate slightly when I sleep in the dark. It doesn't matter what I sleep on." He flopped down on the ground and closed his eyes. Sure enough, he floated above the ground, his hair dragging on the straw floor. It looked _really_ unnatural. I yawned again. I must have been really tired, because I fell asleep as soon as I hit the cot.


	2. Market Night

A/N: I forgot about another species, draconian, that I do in fact mention in this chapter, but only briefly as a joke. Just so you know, draconians are water people (not like merpeople though) who can recycle used oxygen and live underwater for long periods of time. And no, they do not have half fish bodies, because that is just creepy. Right, thanks much to the people who reviewed! They were anonymous, so I'll respond to them here.

Bluelighteninggirl: Glad you like the story so far! I thought of the good/bad switch because I thought that the mythical creatures were too polar, and that they really should be seen from different perspectives.

Emily: Again, happy that you like it! Following your request, I have inconspicuously integrated some brief comparison between species, although it is very surface and not scientific, because the one who is doing the thinking isn't a scientifically minded personage, and doesn't know a lot yet. Maybe as the story progresses, I'll be able to go into more detail.

Also note that I am super lazy. If people don't review, I still write, but it gets cranked out way slower. Knowing that people care makes me guilty and spurs me to update faster.

Okay, I'll shut up now. Please attempt to enjoy the chapter.

xxxxxx

I woke up to a pair of glinting red eyes. Ridillyn. Once I was awake enough to realize that he was leaning over me, I screamed. He moved away, and then snickered.

"Sorry to have startled you Kite, but we should be heading out now. I know it's only just dusk, but market is already starting up, and I want to get out there and buy something. It's what I came here for, anyway." he said. I groaned inwardly, still feeling tired.

"What day of the week is it?"

"Amoreve, of course."

"What?" I ask, nonplussed. "What happened to a Monday or Tuesday?"

"Those refer to times of daylight. As soon as the sun sets, the times of night begin. I believe that Amoreve is Tuesday night, if you must know."

"Oh. What are the other, er, nights of the week?" He smiled at me, an eerie smile that made me feel strangely vulnerable. It might have just been those teeth.

"Starting with Sunday night, we have Darkeve, Cyneve, Amoreve, Omnaseve, Matheve, Thymeve, and Eirreve." he recited. "Now hurry up, I don't want to miss anything. Oh, wait." He reached into his sleeves, pulled out a folding blade, and thrust it at me. I fumbled, but caught it. "If you find the need to make a purchase." he explained. That sounded ominous. He stood up and looked ready to go, but then seemed to remember something else. He pulled a white square of fabric out of his sleeve, and it reminded me of the cheap 'magic' shows that traveling circuses performed. My thoughts were interrupted when he tossed the fabric into my face.

"What's this for?" I mumbled.

"Tie it around your neck. White marks you as mortal." Ridillyn explained. I didn't feel comfortable with advertising the fact that I was mortal in a town populated largely by vampires, but Ridillyn was staring at me, and I complied.

I didn't have time or ability to say or do anything more, for he grabbed my arm and practically flew out the door. Although vampires weren't able to run at supernatural speeds, Ridillyn moved pretty quickly anyway, and by the time we got to the center of town, I was already winded. He darted around gleefully, dragging me along as he looked at various merchandise. We finally stopped in front of a stall where a merchant was selling pottery, trinkets, and bottles of thick, purple liquid.

"Hey Aire." the man greeted cheerfully. He was scrawny, with droopy eyes and a halfhearted fake smile plastered on his face. He was wearing a red neckerchief, which I'd deduced by now meant that he was a vampire.

"Evening Raefel." Ridillyn acknowledged, nodding his head. Raefel turned and looked me up and down then inhaled sharply, taking in my scent. I squirmed a little.

"And who is this ya've got with you?" he inquired, perking up noticeably.

"Hi, I'm Kite." I said, trying to hide my nervousness. It seemed to have worked, for he grinned and held out his hand. I shook it uncertainly.

"Pleased ta meet ya, lassie." he said amicably. "Could Ah interest ya in making a purchase?" I shrugged, and he seemed to take it as a yes. "Anything ya see that ya'd like?" he asked hopefully.

"Maybe, but I don't have any money." At this, Raefel chortled, and Ridillyn smirked.

"New here, lassie? It's all fine, ya can pay with yer blood. Provided ya have a container fer it." Raefel said lightly.

"Still have that knife I gave you?" Ridillyn asked, shoving me lightly. I turned bright red.

"Oh right, yes I do."

"Nothin' ta be embarrassed 'bout, if ye'r from Lytas. Takes some time ta get used ter it." I nodded, feeling only slightly better.

"Raefel, what's that over there?" Ridillyn pointed past his head towards a jagged orange stone hanging from a necklace.

"Want ter see it?" Raefel carefully took it down and handed it to him. Ridillyn's eyebrows furrowed, and he stroked it with his fingers thoughtfully.

"Kite, hold this for a second." I took it from him, and immediately felt a weird thrum. I gasped, and almost dropped it. It kept pulsing oddly, with some unseen power.

"What is it?" I asked, wondering why it was acting this way. Raefel looked perplexed. Ridillyn grinned widely, eyes glinting.

"Perfect! You have a great magical potential there, Kite. A few years of studying and you'll be a decent sorcerer, maybe even good enough to apply for Royal Archwizard." he exclaimed. I stared at him, shocked, and I wasn't the only one. Raefel was gaping at him too.

"Royal Archwizard? That's somethin' big ter be predictin' this early, Aire! It's awful hard ta make it ter that kind of position, ya know."

"Well, she felt the magic off that little thing, and you have to admit not many could. You didn't even know it contained magical energy until she touched it." Ridillyn pointed out. Raefel nodded slowly, and turned to me.

"So, would ya like to buy that? A small vial should be a fair enough trade, what do ya say? Not often I get my hands on pure tindrin blood, I can't afford that kind of luxury!" he muttered enthusiastically. I couldn't see why not, he _did_ seem extremely eager, and it would me mean to disappoint him. Besides, the necklace was fairly pretty. I nodded, and he was practically jumping up and down in excitement.

Ridillyn beamed and pulled a vial and the stick that was apparently a wand out of his sleeve. He handed the vial to me, and readied his wand. I flipped open the knife and reopened part of my previous arm wound. No point in making more scars, right? It stung a little. I let the blood run into the vial until it was nearly filled, and then Ridillyn tapped the cut with a flourish of his wand. It sealed up in a bright haze, and I corked the vial and handed it to Raefel, who took it from me carefully and gave me the necklace.

"Thank ya very much, lassie. Ah'll enjoy every drop!" he told me enthusiastically. Ridillyn laughed lightly as we walked away.

"See, Kite, you're an instant popularity. You could probably get any kind of deal off of these people. It's not often people like you arrive in Sonfun. Unfortunately, this is a country of desperate people looking for second chances, and rarely do we find the desperate tindrin."

"Was that a compliment or an insult?" I muttered, unsure.

"Compliment. It's _always_ a compliment when a vampire praises the quality of your blood." he drawled. Probably to emphasize his point, he leaned in and inhaled deeply, licking his lips contentedly. I did my best to ignore the smug smirk on his face as we walked along.

"Does this mean I really _am _a witch?" I asked him. Maybe the inquisitor was right after all. Still, that didn't mean I was evil, did it? I didn't feel evil. Ridillyn wrinkled his nose.

"It doesn't mean you're a _witch_ necessarily. You could be a wizard or a sorcerer. Or both." he added as an afterthought. "You don't seem the witchy type. Witches are snappy scientific perfectionists. Wizards are more laid back. Much better, in my opinion. Then again, my opinion is biased because I myself am a wizard." He lapsed into silent thought after that, so I stopped talking to him.

Ridillyn seemed to know almost everyone in the town. As we passed by other stalls, he called out casual greetings to many of the sellers, and bought random junk from them. Or at least it was junk in my opinion. We stopped again at a stall where a silvaen woman was handing a bag to another vampire, who gave her some coins. Her neckerchief was a vibrant yellow and green.

"Excuse me, we need a healing potion, remedy for blood loss here." Ridillyn told the woman. Her eyes darted suspiciously from him to me.

"Of course sir, that will be twenty lox." She was still glaring disapprovingly at him as she passed him the medicine in a bag. Ridillyn dropped some copper coins onto the counter. As we made to leave, she stopped us for a second. "You should take better care of her." she muttered to him. The meaning of her words hit us at the same time. I reddened, and he shook his head.

"It isn't like _that,_ I found her staked out in the desert, bleeding half to death. Intolerant Lytians." he whispered. The woman's expression softened and she grimaced knowingly. She gestured at my neck.

"No silver though?"

"We'll get her proper identification later. White was all I could find on short notice." Ridillyn responded. I sort of understood what they were talking about. The woman was asking why there wasn't silver on my neck cloth, but I had no idea what silver meant. What else was I, besides a mortal? Then I remembered the silver that Ridillyn wore. What did him and I have in common?

I asked him just that as we walked away.

"You'll see." was all he said before he rushed off again. I trailed after him, following him to another stall, where a sign that read "Apothecary" was tacked up.

"Excuse me, apothec'ry, do you have any powdered everlasting ice?" Ridillyn asked the man behind the counter. His neckerchief was yellow and red.

"As a matter of fact, I do. But it'll cost you." he said, reaching under the stall and coming back up with a jar full of clear blue crystals.

"How much?"

"Seven faelox." Ridillyn shook out his sleeve, and silver and copper coins rained from it. He counted them carefully, cursing under his breath.

"I'm ninety-seven lox short. Is there anything I could trade you?" The apothecary contemplated this for a minute, and then answered.

"Come back here with me." Ridillyn went and pulled me along. The apothecary glanced at me then shrugged and kept going. He led us behind the stall, where a pot sat over a makeshift stove. He shot a grin at Ridillyn. "The potion calls for Nosferatu blood. I don't know what someone as powerful as you is doing in a dingy town like this, but it's really not my business to know, is it?"

Ridillyn shrugged and walked over to the cauldron.

"How much does it need?" he asked nonchalantly.

"Three fazings or so." the man replied curtly. Ridillyn leaned his head down and bit into his wrist. His sharpened teeth cut easily through his flesh, and blood poured from the wound. The apothecary raised his eyebrows at this. "You're a true born?"

"Obviously."

"Your kind are rare."

"My kind die off too quickly. All for the best, we shouldn't exist anyway."

I had absolutely no idea what they were talking about. What did he mean by true born? And how did his kind "die off?" Ridillyn was staring at the blood flow in concentration, as if counting the drops. After a while, he pulled away and licked himself clean. Then he used the same spell as before to heal himself. He took the jarful of ice from the apothecary and thanked him. The man grinned broadly.

"That man grins too much." Ridillyn muttered as we left.

"Speak for yourself, Master Smirk." I said to him. It was true; he did smirk a lot for no reason. There, he just smirked! "What's that ice for, anyways?" I asked him.

"It's not actually ice. It's called everlasting ice because the person who discovered it was an idiot and thought that it was some sort magic ice." Ridillyn responded. Then, at my confused look, he reiterated, "It _is_ magic, but definitely not ice."

"Okay, okay, I understand." I grumbled. He could be extremely annoying sometimes.

"I was right about you being good for Royal Archwizard. You're already irritated by me, aren't you? That's part of the job description, 'Prince's favorite thing to annoy.'" he chuckled.

"Anyone would be irritated by you." I retorted. Ridillyn only smirked again. Again!

"You still haven't answered my question. What is the _fake_ ice for?"

"It's not fake ice either, it's just not ice, see--"

"I get it! Screw technicalities. Just tell me what it's for already!" I shouted at him, turning red. He trembled, probably trying not to laugh.

"It's used for some potions and spells. You can put it into fire, and it turns into cold fire, which will affect mixtures differently. Of course, the fire is still hot, but another idiot decided to call it cold fire as a joke or something because it's light blue." he finally told me.

"Oh. Well you could have just said so before." I said, deflated. I felt the strange exhaustion that comes after being angry. Either it was that, or I was tired from the night of shopping and more blood loss.

"I could have, but it's good to be accurate." he said haughtily.

"Speaking of accurate, exactly what species are you? I still haven't figured it out." It was true. He didn't seem to match the descriptions of any of the different species. He definitely wasn't human, because humans did not have that many teeth. He was much too tall and lanky to be silvaen or tindrin; silvae were much more muscled and bulky, and had a lot more hair, while tindrins were naturally short and wispy, with large heads. Well, relatively large heads. I didn't think that my head was _that_ big. He could have been nitori, but I wouldn't know, because the only nitori I've met so far is Phaeon, and he doesn't seem to have similar body structure. Then again, he isn't female, so that may have been it.

"You didn't think to ask that when we first met?" he asked me incredulously.

"It wouldn't have been very polite, and besides, it didn't really matter before." I told him. He looked offended, but it might have been a ruse.

"If it didn't really matter before, it doesn't really matter now, does it?" he muttered crossly.

"Fine, don't tell me. I'll just assume you're draconian or something." He turned pale. Well, paler than he was before.

"Alright, I'll tell you. I'm some sort of freak of nature, with screwed up genetics! I think my family used to be nitor, but when the first true borns began appearing, they decided to keep it going by inbreeding, and of course that caused a lot of problems. It wasn't only genes, it was division of magic as well. I'm less messed up than the rest of my family, because my mother was a normal nitor, which afforded me some sane DNA." he blurted. I didn't think I'd ever seen him so flustered, although it was hard to judge him, as I'd only known him for two nights.

"What _are_ true borns? And what's DNA?"

"Oh, they stopped teaching science, didn't they? To prevent another disaster..." he mused, seemingly lost in thought. I was extremely confused.

"What do you mean? What disaster?" He ignored me and went on.

"A true born can be from any species. Instead of the normal spirit, the child is born with a demon. This effectively changes the physical body structure, as well as the abilities and needs of that child. I am a demon. I cannot produce my own spiritual energy, and must rely on that of others. In fact, I drink blood not only for the spiritual power, but for the sustenance and nourishment of my body as well. Unlike most other vampires, I cannot exist on such things as rimwood alone." he hissed softly. The tone with which he said this made me shiver. It was a loving, tender purr.

"Where's Sirros?" I asked, attempting to disperse the misty air that was smothering us with a change of topic.

"I believe he is taking Kysis out for a ride. I swear, he has feelings for that girl." Ridillyn answered in a normal tone. It had worked. The night air was once again crisp and refreshing. I sighed in relief.

A shadow slid over us, and a shriek assaulted my ears. The sound of steady leathery wingbeats passed overhead. I looked up, dreading what I would see, and then realized that it was the night mare, Kysis, and that she was _flying._ Perched precariously on her back, torn between amusement and fright, was Sirros, holding on to her mane for dear life.

Ridillyn mumbled something that sounded something like, "Blockhead...what's the point...inconspicuous...screws things up!" and ran after them, shoving people aside. I followed, running as fast as I could.

Kysis flew much too fast for us to catch up, so Ridillyn thought better of it and whipped out his wand.

"Kalte Mifet, I command you to turn around and come back this instant!" he spoke calmly. The words had a soaring, warped quality to them, and I realized that this was some sort of magic. A few minutes later, Sirros and Kysis came racing back, landing in front of them. Sirros looked extremely flustered.

"I'm sorry, we got a bit carried away." Ridillyn rolled his eyes.

"A bit? I had to use spiritual control to get you to come to your senses. What happened to being inconspicuous? Now the whole town will be talking about it. It's one thing to go out for a ride, an entirely different matter to fly through the main street! You weren't even supposed to be in the air in the first place." he muttered, stowing his wand. "Since you're infatuated with Kysis, I'll let it slide."

"I'm not--" Sirros began indignantly, but Ridillyn cut him off.

"You better hope you are, or I'll rethink this and punish you anyway." He stalked off. I glanced nervously between them, and then went after Ridillyn. I like to be on the winning side, thank you very much.

He led us to Phaeon's stables, where the cart was, and wrote a note on paper that probably came out of his sleeve. He tacked it to the driver's seat, and dragged me away.

"Come on, we're rounding back to Kastinon. I need to get you proper clothes and identification." he said tonelessly. I looked down and realized that my tunic was torn, where I had been cut at the gates of Sonfun. I was disheveled and dirty, as opposed to the immaculate feel that Ridillyn gave off. In a small farming village like this, it was fine, but if I was to go anywhere else, I needed to look more presentable.

Ridillyn was using a stick to draw a pentacle in the dirt on the outskirts of town. He sketched a circle around the star shape, and then started sprinkling some of the 'everlasting ice' onto the outline.

"Adaven fo ymadaka nostivad et." he chanted, grabbing my arm and pulling me into the pentacle. "Nonitsak leditic!" he shouted, and the world went up in a plume of smoke. I felt dizzy, nauseous, as if I'd been spinning around in circles. I stumbled, and Ridillyn caught me, steadying me.

"It takes a while to get used to the feeling." he whispered before moving forward, pulling me along. I recovered enough to gaze at our new surroundings. We were standing in front of another huge gate, though this time it was guarded by two armed men and a gatekeeper. They pointed their spears at us as we approached.

"State your identity and purpose." the gatekeeper barked. Ridillyn looked calmly into his eyes.

"I am Prince Ridillyn, as I hope you know, and beside me is Kitaek..."

"Fen." I supplied.

"We're here to get her proper identification, and to say hello to Father." he continued. The guards looked at him with narrowed eyes. Ridillyn smiled eerily, purposely showing the majority of his sharp teeth, and pulled his sleeve back to show the etching on his arm.

"The Royal Archwizard will see about it." said the gatekeeper. Sure enough, a minute later, an old tindrin man stalked into view.

"Oh hey, back so soon Your--" he stopped when he caught sight of me. "Who's this?"

"Lanveld, this is Kitaek. Kite, Archwizard Lanveld." We nodded at each other awkwardly through the gate.

"What're you doing, idling about? Let the prince in!" Lanveld snapped at the gatekeeper. He jumped and did as he was told. "Where's Sirros?"

"Still back at Merlis. We're not staying long, just getting Kite here registered." Ridillyn responded, walking up the path.

"Yes, the Gate opened twice yestereve, with three going in and two going out, one new arrival." the Archwizard confirmed, nodding his head. I wondered how they tracked how many people went through the gate.

"Yes, we'll need to get her filed for citizenship. Otherwise she could be attacked." Ridillyn muttered, glancing my way. I glared at him. He could have told me that earlier! We went through countless winding corridors, up several spiral staircases, through a plethora of random doors, and finally arrived in front of a huge double door. The doors were probably the most elaborate things in the area. For a palace, it didn't seem too fancy. The walls were plain gray stone, the dim passageways lit with flickering torches. It was a bit eerie.

I wondered what was behind those doors. Perhaps it was the throne room. But why would the throne room be so far up? I was sure that we were on the third floor at least. But I didn't get to find out what was behind the doors, because we swerved down a side passage, coming to a stop before a blank wall. Archwizard Lanveld produced a staff from nowhere and jabbed at the wall, waving his hands wildly. Instead of a door appearing in a puff of smoke, or something dramatic like that, nothing seemed to happen. It was a bit anticlimactic

I regretted thinking that as I fell hundreds of meters, straight down a shaft of stone. However, instead of splattering at the bottom, I landed in a swirl of strange, thick, tangible fog. It obscured my vision and hearing, like a swath of cotton. I couldn't even tell if I was stationary, falling, or something else. I felt lost, and alone. Then I was hit with a wave of real fear. What if I was lost in this smothering fog? What if I never got out? Hundreds of what if's, each more gruesome than the next, chased each other around inside my head. I thrashed, desperately trying to 'swim' out of the stuff.

Someone grabbed my hand. I struggled, shrieking unheard, but then I realized that this was probably a good thing. Whoever it was pulled me along, as if they were walking. Suddenly, I realized that we _were_ walking, and that the surroundings had cleared. We were in yet another hallway, and Ridillyn was clutching my hand securely.

"Sorry, I forgot to mention how to navigate the controlled termite passageway." he said sheepishly.

"I think you forgot to mention a lot of things." It was meant to be sarcastic, but it sounded more like a high-pitched squeak. Ridillyn chuckled.

"We're in the sublevels. This is where the individual files of every resident of Sonfun are stored, containing detailed information. Of course, they are kept concealed by an absurdly large number of security spells. We're here to create your profile." he explained. I felt rather queasy knowing that my information would be filed away. What if someone was able to break through the security? My thoughts were interrupted as Archwizard Lanveld turned up and spoke.

"Alright, first thing we need to do is create your own pocket in the nest of spells. Speak your spirit name into the air, make sure you speak clearly."

"Er..." I muttered. I felt uncomfortable just shouting it aloud with them present.

"Just say your name." Ridillyn told me.

"Could you cover your ears or something?"

"I'm afraid not, I need to hear it to perform the necessary spells, and the prince is supposed to know the spirit names of all his subjects." So I was one of Ridillyn's subjects now? That's nice? I shrugged.

"Now?"

"Yes now!"

"Safirus Akita Elio!" I shouted at the wall. I felt a weird hum in the air, and saw a twisting ripple nearby. I whirled around to look at it, but it had already smoothed back into nothingness.

"Who taught you to hide your spirit name?" Ridillyn asked me curiously.

"My father."


	3. A New Task

A/N: Wow, I updated again. Third day in a row! I won't have time for daily updates when winter break ends though, so don't get too used to it. Again, thanks for reading and reviewing people, I appreciate it.

Emily: I just got your review! Yes, this is way after our time, I think I described the place a bit in my profile. Just so you know, it is taking place in South America, which is called Herevetia in that time and consists of three separate countries, Sonfun, Lytas, and Keave. They aren't actually speaking English, this is just written in English. The disaster was a nuclear war, they decided to stop teaching science to the general public because they wanted to avoid it ever happening again. After awhile, people just forgot what really happened, and legends and myths warped the truth.

Please do tell me if there are any major errors pertaining to spelling or grammar, I will correct them. I spellchecked this and edited, but spellcheck is stupid, and editing yourself isn't very effective, so I might have missed some things.

xxxxxx

Everything had been filed away. Where I was born and raised, the date that I arrived, the circumstances, and a few other things. The file was then securely locked behind the strange looping net of my name. The spell was simple really, if you knew someone's name, you could get to their file.

Of course, there was the problem of getting there. To get to the sublevels, one had to fall into the stabilized class-A termite passage that the castle was built around. Now, "falling in" wasn't as easy as it sounded, because of a strange property of termite holes. If you knew that the passage was there, it wouldn't let you in. So, a complex spell had to be performed to trick the passage into thinking that you do not know that it is there, and that you are merely idling by the entrance for no reason.

If someone _did_ fall into the passage by accident, they would be stuck in the core of the termite hole, where the white fog was. Termite holes automatically deposit inanimate objects, so if you don't manage to escape and end up dying, people will find you. It doesn't sound like a pleasant end to me, starving to death in a blanket of fog.

If you know how to navigate the place, it's easy enough to get out. Since the passage has been stabilized, it will not dump you into the highest energy concentration, like unstable passages will. Instead, you must know exactly what the place you are going looks like, and then you will be put there. The ends of the termite hole are attached to solid walls, so it appears as if you walk out of the wall.

No one knows the actual location of the sublevels, not even the king himself. The people who designed and built the place gladly had their memories erased. Ridillyn was explaining the whole system to me as we walked back through the castle. Lanveld needed to go help the king with some problem, so we were left alone.

"Why would the workers have agreed to have their memories erased?" I asked. I definitely would not want to have amnesia.

"There are... things in the sublevels that could scare a normal person to insanity. They guard treasures that the greedy would want to get their hands on, at any cost. By forgetting the architecture and location of the sublevels completely and announcing it publicly, the workers were safer from being hunted down and tortured for information.

"Oh." was all I could say. I don't think I want to even know what these "things" were guarding. I could never understand greed. Why couldn't people be satisfied with what they had? Besides, if you set your sights on something you didn't have, you forgot to enjoy what you _did_ have.

"On a lighter note, it's almost lunchtime." Ridillyn remarked. Suddenly, my stomach growled. I realized that I hadn't eaten in two nights! I didn't notice before because of all the excitement. I wondered who's blood Ridillyn would be drinking.

"What about you?" I asked.

"Don't worry, I can go for weeks without feeding. If I don't overexert myself, my spiritual energy lasts awhile." he responded.

"How do you overexert yourself?"

His eyes glinted mischievously. "Wizard's duels."

Ridillyn explained wizard's duels all the way to the dining hall. I fingered my newly issued "official" neckerchief, which was white, blue, and silver. The blue indicated that I was still a minor, and would be removed upon my coming of age. The small streaks of silver meant that I would be a magician one day. When I received my "diploma" for magic, the silver would completely replace the white, and I would be classified as a full fledged wizard.

Wizard's duels had simple rules. In a casual duel, a person won when the opponent passed out. The duels were actually more mind games than real duels, since each person tried to get through the mental defenses of the opponent to make them black out. This constant battling of minds apparently drained spiritual energy at an alarming rate. A normal person would have to sleep off the effects for a day or two; a vampire would have to drink a lot of blood to recover.

In a real clash, a person won when the opponent died, obviously. It wasn't just mental then, it was physical too. The opponents tried to cause fatal wounds, adding mental jabs to weaken or disorient. It was like a fancy, double timed sword fight.

We had reached the dining hall, and I was glad to see that it was well populated and well lit. The food was simple, but filling. Ridillyn sat next to me as I ate, making idle conversation. As almost none of the nobility was mortal, the dining hall was usually populated by servants and occasional guests. Therefore, everyone was surprised to see the crown prince himself sitting at a table and talking to someone as if it was the most common thing to do.

"So what does the staff here do?" I asked Ridillyn.

"Mostly cleaning. We have a librarian though, and people who work in the Sonfian Archives. Look, here's one." he said, grabbing a short man who was passing by on the arm. The man jumped.

"Y-Your Highness, is th-there anything you n-need?" he stuttered nervously.

"What's your name?" Ridillyn asked him cheerfully. He didn't seem to notice how much the man was trembling. Either that or he was ignoring it completely.

"F-F-Flanor."

"Flanor, you work in the archives, right? Sit with us, and explain to Kite what you do. I'm afraid I haven't been down there in forever, and I believe you'd be much more informative than me."

"Oh, y-yes sure." Flanor stammered. He seemed to have gotten back in control of himself once Ridillyn let go of his arm, because he began talking in a mostly normal voice about the archives. It was really very interesting, how a copy of every book in Sonfun was located in the archives. The archives were also part of the sublevels. Usually, the workers there did not come to the main castle, since there were living quarters and a smaller eating area there too. Flanor himself was up here to make a report.

"Well, Your Highness, I might as well report the problem right now, I suppose. Better to get it over with. There's a book missing. It's one of the records of Demonica, I believe of the release of Darkness from his imprisonment in borderlands of the Underworld." Ridillyn's eyes widened.

"One of the records of Demonica is _missing_? Are you sure it's not just misplaced?" he asked. I could tell that he was searching desperately for a way that it could be a false alarm, because Flanor had already told me about the spells on each book.

"We've sent the tracking spell over the entire castle, even the bathrooms. It's out of the range of the spell, which means that it's n-no longer in the b-building." Flanor muttered nervously. He recoiled, flinching, at the look on Ridillyn's face. It was pure fury, undisguised and demonic. His eyes burned darkly, and his teeth were bared in a grimace. He growled deeply. Flanor shrank even more, bur Ridillyn's fury wasn't directed at him.

When he spoke, it was with a calm, suppressed tone. "Kite, we are going back to Merlis. We're going to retrieve Sirros, Kysis, and the cart. Then, we are going to use every ounce of our power to recover that book. It's not just any book, it's the one of the _Demonica_, and if it falls into the wrong hands, dreadful things will ensue." By the time he finished this pronouncement, he was trembling in his fury, and the dining hall was silent. He told Flanor tonelessly to inform the king of this, and grabbed my arm and stalked out.

As we walked, he seemed to regain his calm, taking deep breaths and slowing down considerably. After a while, I dared to speak.

"Why are you taking me? Why not some other more skilled wizard?" I asked. "Not that I'm complaining" I added hurriedly at the look on his face.

"For this, we don't need skill. We need raw power, and that's what you have. I think I have enough skill to cover for both of us." he muttered. We went down the whole time, lower and lower until I was sure we were underground again. We stopped beside a beaten wooden door. Ridillyn grabbed the handle and threw it open. Apparently, we had arrived at the kitchens. Without a word, he stalked over to the food cupboard, pulled out his wand, and started muttering things and twisting his fingers. After a minute, he stopped, and nodded in approval. He turned to the kitchen workers. "Make sure this cabinet is always stocked with edible items." the head of the staff nodded fearfully.

Without looking back, Ridillyn snatched up my arm again and we went back up, higher and higher. Finally, we reached our destination, which was a tower room. As he opened the door, I realized that this was Ridillyn's bedroom. Instead of a bed, there was a woven mat and a neatly folded blanket. There were a few bookcases and a desk, as well as a cabinet that looked out of place. It could have been a study, but I could tell that it wasn't because it looked much too lived in.

Ridillyn went straight for the cabinet, and hefted it onto his shoulders. He walked back out and told me to close the door behind us. I did as he asked. We went down once again, emerging at the front hall. I wondered how Ridillyn could navigate this place. I for one was already completely disoriented, and was extremely surprised when the front doors came into view.

We walked back outside the gates, and Ridillyn set up the pentacle again. He chanted the same thing at first, but the last part changed to "Silrem Here!" Again, I was tossed around in a smoky haze, before stumbling out into the middle of town. I almost tripped over the cabinet, which had appeared next to me. As soon as the smoke cleared, Ridillyn made a beeline for Phaeon's hut. He knocked at the door and waited for an answer. A tired looking Sirros opened the door. He immediately stood up straighter at the serious look on Ridillyn's face.

"Sirros, hitch up the cart. We're going to find the last book of the Demonica, it's gone missing. We will comb the countryside, the world if we have to, starting from our most dangerous enemies." he said impassively. Sirros nodded numbly and went off to do as he was told.

"Who _are_ our most dangerous enemies?" I asked. I couldn't help it, I was curious. I also thought it would be a good idea to know what we were up against.

"Nolls." he answered simply. That didn't really help.

"And Nolls are..."

"Well, they're a group of religiously fanatic humans, camped out just east of Voxith. If you came from Ken's Wood, you would have passed through their area. They're convinced that Darkness is something called 'Satan,' and accordingly label Sonfians as 'Satan worshipers.' Now, I couldn't care less what they thought of our country, if they didn't come over once in a while and raid our cities. I wish they could get it through their thick skulls that our gods are completely unrelated to their gods." Ridillyn explained.

"Why are they the most dangerous pertaining to the book?" I wondered aloud.

"If they have it, then they will likely burn it. The original of a book of Demonica isn't just a historical account. It contains memories and magic between the pages. If the book is destroyed, those memories are released, and they can warp reality if not recollected or destroyed."

"Oh. Let's get going then." I muttered, and jumped into the cart as soon as it pulled up. Ridillyn followed me in, setting the cabinet down on the floor, and we set off after a hurried goodbye to Phaeon.

xxxxxx

After what seemed like seconds, we were back at the Gate of Sonfun. Apparently, you didn't need to pay to get out. The gates opened by themselves, and we drove on through. We came to the forest at the base of the mountains later in the night, and stopped. Sirros hid the cart in the foliage, and Ridillyn disguised it further with a few twists of his hands and a muttered incantation. He walked around it, sniffed the air, and then seemed satisfied.

"Alright. Sirros guard the cart and take care of Kysis. Kite and I are going to infiltrate the caves where the Nolls live." Ridillyn declared. Sirros nodded, and Kysis made herself comfortable. I followed Ridillyn through the dense underbrush. How exactly could we infiltrate the place? I didn't even know anything about the Nolls, except that they were human and of an ancient religion.

We came to a stop at the area where forest stopped and desert abruptly began. Sure enough, the cliff face was littered with holes, some shallow caves and other deep mazes of passageways and caverns. We crouched, hidden in a mass of bristly sagebrush, and watched, apparently waiting for something. A figure holding a torch emerged from one of the openings, looked around, and stalked out confidently. It was humming to itself. By the tone of voice, I deduced that it was male. Before I could see more, Ridillyn motioned for me to go after him towards the hole that the man had come out of.

"Shouldn't we wait until he leaves?" I hissed.

Ridillyn shook his head and mouthed, _"I'll explain."_ But he didn't need to explain, because as we got to the opening, we were already too late. Iron bars blocked the entrance, and our way in. I understood now. Unfortunately, the man had noticed us, and stopped humming. He came towards us with the torch, but stopped and gasped when he saw Ridillyn, who was making no effort to look less "demonic" by the Noll's standards. In fact, he was leaning forward, eyes wide and teeth bared, growling menacingly. I had a feeling that he was trying to scare the man away. If so, it failed in the "away" part.

The man was certainly afraid, I could see it in his eyes. However, he came _at_ us, brandishing the torch in front of him.

"Devil! Heathens, away from this sacred place! Do not defile the--" he was cut off as Ridillyn lunged for his throat, tossing the torch aside.

"Catch!" he muttered, and I managed to get to the torch before it went out or set something aflame. I watched fearfully, wondering if Ridillyn would bite the man. But he only pinned him to the ground. "If you would kindly let us in, you can go. I don't care. Go warn your friends, run away, it doesn't matter. We aren't here for you, rather for a possession of our state that was stolen. If we do not find it, we will leave."

"I will never let you in! You'll desecrate the place, demon, and I cannot allow that!" the man exclaimed.

"If you really _want_ to die, I'll grant you the favor." Ridillyn snarled, giving the man a clear view of his teeth. "But, it'd be much appreciated if you would make things easier for us and your little coven by opening the door."

"No!" the man spat. Ridillyn shrugged and leaned his head in. The man screamed and shuddered as he was bitten, thrashing around. Ridillyn restrained him and continued to drink. After awhile, the man stopped moving and he pulled away, licking the last of the blood from his lips.

"Right, let's get back to business. Give me the torch, we should burn the body. Try and figure out how the door works. We don't want to waste magical power if we can help it." he told me. I felt kind of sick, seeing him kill with such little feeling, but then again, he did give the man a chance. And he was _technically_ just eating.

The barred door was activated by a switch far on the inside, unreachable. Ridillyn had finished disposing of the man, and he came to my side. Gesturing for me to stand aside, he produced a staff and stuck it through the bars, wiggling it to try and hit the button. It took a long while, but he finally managed it.

"What if we meet someone?" I asked him as we made our way in. I hoped he wouldn't just kill anyone we saw. He didn't seem _that_ bad.

"Hopefully, we won't meet someone. If we do, I can make us temporarily blend into the surroundings. I'll have to draw on your magic to cover you, however, and it will feel odd, so try not to make a sound." he said. "And, if it comes to the worst, well, I could always use another drink." I shuddered. I fervently hoped it wouldn't come to the worst.

We went in, walking along. As promised, Ridillyn managed to make us "invisible" whenever he picked up the sound of footsteps. There was a cold, queasy feeling in my gut every time, but I ignored it. He led the way, and I had no idea how he knew which way to go.

"Are we lost? I asked bluntly after we made another random turn. The labyrinth of cave passages was making me dizzy.

"I'm not sure, we might be. We're heading somewhere where there are a lot of people though. I can feel the spiritual aura from here if I try hard enough. You could too, but I don't think you know how yet." We walked a bit more and I decided to stop trying to remember which way we came from and focused on following Ridillyn. I was focusing so hard that I didn't notice when he stopped, and almost ran into him.

"What?" I whispered.

He shushed me, pulling on our "invisibility." I heard voices, but they weren't coming closer or moving away. They were stationary, barring our progress. I hope Ridillyn didn't consider this to be "the worst."

"I haven't seen Rag since he went out for fresh air, Father. Do you think he's in trouble?" a female voice asked worriedly. Rag must have been to man who tried to stop us. I felt a twinge of pity for the woman.

"Ragneithur wanders sometimes. I'm sure he's fine, Clara." a deep, male voice sounded.

"_And I'm sure you're wrong."_ I thought, grimacing.

"But there's a meeting tonight, he knows not to be late. What if something's wrong?" the person named Clara muttered.

"_Yeah, agree to go look for him or something so we can keep moving."_

"Nothing's wrong, evil cannot enter a blessed haven like this. Relax, Clara." the male voice said.

"Bloody hypocrite." I heard Ridillyn mutter next to me. I kicked at him, but missed, hitting the rock wall. I froze, putting my foot back down slowly.

"Did you hear something, Father?" Clara asked. The two walked towards us, looking around. I could feel Ridillyn glaring accusingly at me, even though I couldn't see him. I glared back at where I thought he was. The priest was extremely tall, with a somber face. Clara looked a lot like Ragneithur, and I guessed that she was his younger sister. "I swear, there are ghosts here." she whispered fearfully.

"There cannot be such spirits in these chaste halls." the priest said. Ridillyn snorted. I suddenly had a brilliant idea. Cupping my hands around my mouth, I blew a steady low tone into them. It reverberated around the hallway, making the two look around confusedly. Clara started shivering, and the priest put an arm around her. They walked away.

"Finally." Ridillyn sighed, letting us come back into view. "Good thinking. Don't try to kick me next time, though, I might lose concentration." We kept going, hiding systematically when people passed by. Finally, we made it to the "meeting room." Hundreds of people were gathered there, milling about. We slipped stealthily through the throng, our presence only rippling the air slightly as we moved. We stationed ourselves at the back of the room. That was when I realized that we had a problem.

"Ridillyn, how will we know if the book is here?" I asked him. I hoped he'd thought about that before I did.

"Oh, we'll know if we get close to it. That book gives off its own magical aura. But we have to be near it to feel it strongly. That's why we need you. Your enormous magical potential means that you can sense it from farther away that I can. We still need to be relatively close to it, though." he replied. I was glad that we wouldn't have to comb the entire place through to find it. Then I remembered that it might not even be in this place at all. I repressed a groan.

The room quieted as a man walked to the front, where there was a podium. His voice rang out. I listened, but soon was distracted. He was talking about things that I could only assume related to the religion of the Nolls. In fact, I would have dozed off if not for the fact that I was standing, and Ridillyn was holding onto my arm securely.

"He's making no mention of any book. Either it's secret, or not here at all." I heard him hiss into my ear.

"Should we leave?" I whispered back.

"No, people might notice. We should wait until this is over." I shrugged, and then remembered that Ridillyn could not see me.

"Alright." I said, and leaned back on the wall. This would be a very boring wait.

xxxxxx

The meeting finished eventually, and people got up and filed out. We moved with the crowd, our rippling unnoticed. Ridillyn led us through various dark tunnels, asking me periodically if I felt anything. I didn't at all by the time we finally emerged back outside.

It was day, and Ridillyn groaned and leaned against me. I think he might have lied when he said that sunlight did not affect vampires at all.

"Are you okay?" I asked him, worried. He really did not look well.

"Keeping that spell working throughout the entire meeting took a toll on me. I don't think I would have been able to do it for so long if I hadn't fed before." he muttered, dragging his feet as we walked back into the forest. We stopped for a rest, and he leaned against a tree, sliding into a sitting position. I sat next to him. His face was cupped in his hands, and he took deep breaths.

"Are you sure we can keep going?" He looked tired, and I thought that it would probably be a good idea for him to rest. I didn't feel too great either.

"I need blood." he finally conceded with a sigh.

"I can give you mine." I blurted. I mentally cursed how nice I was. I did not fancy the idea of him drinking from me, it made me feel sick. Perhaps he would decline.

"I suppose." he muttered. Nope, there was no chance of him declining.

"Do you have a knife?" I asked him. I'd left the one he'd given me back at the castle. It seemed so far away, I couldn't believe we had been there just that evening.

"No, I don't." he replied quietly.

"Not even in your ever-stocked sleeves?" I teased. How did I still have the energy to tease? I was about to let him drink my blood again, this time making the wound myself.

"They aren't ever-stocked; I merely put a lot of things in them. I only had that one knife that I gave you. I can always bite, if you relax it doesn't hurt so much." he said, removing his hands from his eyes to look at me. I seriously doubted that, remembering how the man, Ragneithur, had screamed.

"Won't biting me contaminate me or something?" I asked him. He looked at me strangely.

"What?"

"Never mind." I muttered. It was probably just more myth. Ridillyn beckoned for me to come closer. He took my arm, passing his gaze over it. Then he rested his teeth on my skin.

"Relax, and try not to jerk your arm." he said softly, before biting down. It hurt more than the knife. I winced, and used all my self control to stop myself from pulling away. I knew that if I moved, it would tear the wound. I watched Ridillyn. He gulped slowly, apparently savoring the taste. This time, I could _feel_ not only the blood, but the energy passing into him. I could feel it as not only his body, but his mind too, recovered.

Ridillyn pulled away rather reluctantly. The bite marks healed as he tapped them.

"Thank you, Kite. I appreciate it very much." he said, standing up. He did seem a lot more energetic.

"Your welcome." I told him. No, he was not welcome!

"We need to find Sirros again. I think it was this way..." I followed him through the forest. It was annoying how completely unplanned and unorganized Ridillyn was. He didn't even know for sure where the cart was! Just because he was a wizard, didn't mean he had to be completely sloppy.

We came to the edge of a clearing, and what we saw made us both gape.

It was the book, lying innocently on the ground.

xxxxxx

A/N (again): Sorry for the cliffy, but it's better than if I stopped a sentence before that, right? And, if I'd kept going, I don't think I would have been able to stop writing somewhere. And besides, I'll probably update again tomorrow, so you shouldn't complain.


	4. Passing Through

A/N: Yay, day four in a row! Thanks for reading, people, it makes me very happy. Oh, and the disaster mentioned actually wasn't the nuclear war, I forgot about the 'more recent' one. This crazed hitler-esque scientist in North America decided to modify the gene pool. He practically destroyed all variation, and ended up with only dark brown haired and blue eyed people. (Only in NA though) Except there were also these weird albino people, who were discriminated against and forced into slavery. When the scientist's rule was finally overthrown, people stopped teaching science at all. Word spread to the other continents. Okay, so now that's out of the way, enjoy the chapter!

xxxxxx

"I can't believe it." Ridillyn murmured, staring at it. I was wondering if this was a trap. How could it be so easy? But then I remembered what he had told me about the book. It was powerful and magical. The book on the ground did not have an aura of any kind. It was just that-- a book. I was about to say so to Ridillyn, but he spoke before I could. "I can't believe how stupid whoever it was thought we would be. They didn't even do any rudimentary spells on it, to make it magical enough to be detected."

"Maybe they didn't know." I said. The thought just came to me. If a normal person saw it, they would probably think that it _was_ the book. Then again, I didn't know, because I'd never actually seen the book before. I assumed that it looked similar to the other volumes of the Demonica, which Ridillyn had shown me. In any case, the person who stole the book might not have known that it was magical, only that it was valuable.

"Perhaps. We can see. If there is a trap waiting for me, then the person really thought that we would fall for it. But we will fall for it anyways, because I will have gone into the trap, and, well, this is going in circles." he muttered under his breath. "It does look to be a remarkably good copy, aside from the lack of magical aura." Then, what he had said before hit me.

"Wait, you're just going to walk into some trap? Maybe they were right in assuming that we'd be stupid. What if it kills you?" I blurted. Then I realized that I must have sounded dense, because he was a vampire, and probably couldn't die that easily. He answered seriously, however.

"If it kills me, _it_ will have a demon to deal with. That's one of the perks of not being a spirit. I can root myself to the earth, even if my bodily self dies. And yes, I will be walking into 'some trap' as you call it, if there even is a trap. Of course, you will be standing by to get me out of it. I doubt that there will be magical wards, since the book is so plain. You don't really need to do anything, just let me direct your power."

And just like that, Ridillyn stepped into the clearing. He stopped a meter away from the book.

"Oh! How rudimentary. Did they _really_ think we'd fall in? Well, perhaps they did, if they though we would go for the fake. Harrumph." I didn't understand what he was talking about. Ridillyn snapped his fingers, and the book flew into his hands.

"Why couldn't you have just done that from the edge of the clearing?" I shouted at him, annoyed.

"Because it would have taken more energy, it would have prevented us from finding out if there were traps, and it wouldn't have irritated you as much." he stated, turning on his heel and stalking back into the wood. I followed him along, huffing.

"Why'd you stop before you got to the book?"

"They dug a pitfall trap. If we walked near the book, we'd fall in. As if a true vampire couldn't see the difference in the ground from up close." he replied, nose in the air. "Like I said before, this book is a well made copy. Of course, the pages are blank. We've confirmed that our enemies are onto us. We've also confirmed that the enemy isn't magical, and probably doesn't believe in magic. This is good."

In my opinion, it was very bad. How could it be a good thing that our enemies were onto us? They knew that we would be searching for the book, and tried to thwart us! It was a lame attempt, but they were trying. Maybe next time, it would be more dangerous.

"Oh, bother! I forgot." Ridillyn muttered crossly. I wonder what he forgot. "We should fall into the pitfall. Correction, _I_ should fall into the pitfall. Then it will look plausible. No one could have gotten to that book without at least disturbing the trap without magic."

"How are you going to get back out?"

"Some anti-gravity and a bit of imagination. It'll be fine." he stated confidently. I sighed and followed him back to the clearing. He ran and fell into the hole. I couldn't help but laugh, the scene was comical. There was a thump as he hit the bottom.

"Are you okay?" I called from above.

"This is extremely strange." came Ridillyn's voice.

"What is?"

"There's a bed of straw down here. It's like they don't want us to die!" he exclaimed

"That's good, I don't fancy dying." I replied sardonically.

"It's strange! Well, I'm coming back up. Back away from the edge of the pit, please." I did as he asked. A moment later, Ridillyn seemed to fall up, landing on his feet at the rim of the trap. "I have to compliment whoever did this. The trap is very neat. If a normal person tried to climb up, they would have extreme issues. The wall is rock up until the top half, when it becomes soft sand, and then mud at the very edge. A climber would slip and slide all over."

"You're wasting time complimenting the enemy? I think I'd rather just leave before said enemy arrives." I said, grabbing him and walking away. After a while, we came upon Sirros, who was sprawled on the ground next to Kysis, asleep. Kysis was still in person form, which meant that it wasn't night yet.

"Wow Kite, I'm impressed. You managed to get us back here!" Ridillyn exclaimed.

"It sounds as if you wouldn't have been able to get us back." I muttered, glaring at him with narrowed eyes. He looked at me innocently.

He strolled over and kicked Sirros in his side. "Get up, you lazy vampire. I bet Astromid never let you off for idling when you were supposed to be guarding something."

"I had to sleep, didn't I?" Sirros retorted indignantly, rubbing his eyes. "And I'm thirsty." Screw him. I was _not_ giving my blood to him too.

"Let's see what's in the cabinet. I bet Kite's hungry as well." Ridillyn uncovered the cart and opened the cabinet doors. I gaped when I saw all the things inside it. He rummaged a little, and then came up with an apple and a flask of something burgundy. He tossed the apple to me and scrutinized the flask.

"Is it at least mixed?" Sirros asked him. What was he talking about?

"Yes, thirty percent, courtesy of the head chef. Hey look, there's a note in here." Ridillyn remarked. He handed the flask to Sirros, who thanked him and took a long draft, shuddering.

"_Good thinking setting up a connecting cabinet. I'll see to it that there's food and blood for you. If you need anything, leave a note --Lanveld." _Ridillyn read aloud.

"Well, that's convenient. If _he's_ stocking up, we'll be well taken care of. This is when I'm glad that Lanveld is a bit witch-like in his thoroughness." he said. I took a bite out of the apple. It was pretty good, and I was hungry.

"What else is in that cabinet?" I asked, after I'd finished my apple.

"A load of food and some rimwood juice. Help yourself." I scanned the goods in the cabinet. There were assorted fruits, some vegetables, and jugs of milk and water. Cups and bowls had also been provided, along with a knife. I took a cup and filled it with milk.

"There's a knife in here." I informed Ridillyn. He took it and scrutinized it.

"Not sharp enough. That'd hurt more than my teeth." he responded.

"That's not what I meant." I grumbled. I wasn't giving him more blood unless there were extenuating circumstances. Ridillyn smirked. I had the uncomfortable feeling that there _would_ soon be extenuating circumstances.

"Let's see. Our enemy is smart, but does not appear to be acquainted with magic. Either that or they are trying to get us off course. Let's hope it's the first. In that case, our query is narrowed down considerably. We shall be setting a course for Cyvit's castle, which, by chance, leads us through Elta, your hometown. I wonder how they'll react seeing the so called witch they sentenced to death come back in less than a week?" he whispered conspiratorially, grinning widely.

"With a vampire no less." I added.

"Two vampires." Ridillyn corrected. "Even though Sirros and I are nothing alike."

"Why would I want to be like you?" Sirros interjected.

"I'm more intimidating, a wizard, and the crown prince." Ridillyn replied pompously. I giggled.

"How are you more intimidating?" Sirros demanded.

"I'm taller, and I have claws and fangs."

"You are _not_ that much taller."

"Fine, but I still have claws and fangs, and you don't." This argument was starting to sound childish. However, it caught my interest.

"Sirros doesn't have fangs?" I asked, curious. I thought part of being a vampire was the fact that you bit people.

"Of course he doesn't. He was born relatively normal. I say relatively because his father was a chimneysweep, and the children of chimneysweeps are always screwed up somehow. I mean, he got himself killed at such a young age, there's something wrong there." Ridillyn told me.

"Hey, don't insult my father." Sirros snapped.

"I wasn't insulting your father, I was insulting _you._" he drawled. Sirros glared at him.

"I'm hungry." A new voice said. I started, before realizing that it was Kysis, waking up.

"What would you like?" I inquired.

"How about an apple?" I tossed her one. She did look rather horse-like when she was eating. It must be weird being a night mare.

I got to watch the transformation first hand as the sun set. It was rather gruesome, really. Kysis doubled over, and started getting bigger. Her hair flattened out and spread into dark fur. Leathery wings sprouted out of her shoulder blades, and her neck elongated. The front of her face stretched into a muzzle. Finally, her fingers receded and turned to hooves, and she settled down with a clump.

"Right, let's be off. I don't want to waste a second of the precious night." Ridillyn declared, putting the cabinet back into the cart and climbing in. I got on after him. I wondered how we were going to get through the trees.

The answer to my question came as a sudden jerk. We were being lifted up into the air. Kysis was hitched so that the leather straps were even distances to the corners of the cart, and we were rising steadily. I avoided looking down at all costs. It didn't take long to move out of the forested area. We were now flying above snow capped peaks, and the frigid air was numbing me to the bone. Sirros seemed unaffected, but Ridillyn was huddled in his seat, just like me.

Then, we started to lose altitude. I panicked, thinking that we were falling, before realizing that Kysis was lowering us onto the ground. I wondered how she would land without squishing us. The cart touched the ground, but Kysis remained fluttering in the air. Sirros reached up and unhooked the clasps. She flew off and came in for a proper landing.

"Is it morning already?" I asked, trying to thaw out my extremities.

"No, but we'll be moving normally now, through Xen's Pass. Kysis can't fly for too long carrying us." Sirros responded. Sure enough, after a quick food break, Kysis was hitched up again and moving at a slow trot. I suddenly realized how tired I was. Curling up into a more comfortable position, I fell asleep quickly.

xxxxxx

We were already out of Xen's pass, and heading into Ken's wood when I regained consciousness. Hey, Xen and Ken rhyme! It was nearly dawn, however. I felt extremely nervous. Technically, since I was now Sonfian, the residents of Elta could do nothing about my alleged 'witch-ness.' We were in Lytas legally, since we passed through the Gate. I just wondered how the people would react when the saw me, alive and mostly well. When I asked Ridillyn what he thought, he only gave me a huge smirk that showed off his many sharp teeth. That didn't bode well.

Dawn came, and with it Kysis' normal form. She and Sirros decided to get some rest. Ridillyn turned to me.

"If you gave me your blood, I could move the cart magically, and we'd get there faster." he said. There he was, trying to wheedle it out of me. I knew I should never have let him have any the first time.

"I'm not in that much of a hurry, thank you." I told him.

"But it'd be a more dramatic entrance, don't you think? A self moving cart!" he exclaimed, sweeping his arms grandly.

"I don't care if we're dramatic or not." I snapped.

"Come on, just a little." He was trying a different approach. The nerve of him!

"No."

"Please…"

"No!"

He gave me the cute puppy dog face.

"That doesn't work on me." I told him. He frowned. Then he went all "evil demon" and loomed over me. "That's not going to work either." I said. He harrumphed.

"Just a tiny, itty bitty little bite." he begged, pouting.

"You sound like a little kid." He was really getting on my nerves.

xxxxxx

Ridillyn was holding me tightly, pressing his teeth to my neck. He had finally "persuaded" me after a couple hours of pestering, which had ended like this:

"Please? Please please please please please?"

"Ugh, no!"

"Pretty please with a unicorn on top? Pleeeaaasse?"

"Arrgh! Alright, fine! Just shut up and promise not to ever pester me again."

"Okay!"

So there we were.

I felt squeamish with Ridillyn at my throat, but I decided not to complain, because he probably would have just started annoying me once more. As he sank his teeth, fiery pain shot through my nerves. I ignored it, because anything was better than his constant nagging and soliciting in my ear.

It wasn't so bad. His slurping actually felt nice. What disturbed me were the happy noises that he emitted sporadically. I think he enjoyed himself way too much. But at least he had self control. I could tell he was almost done when his sucking turned to licking, and he produced his wand.

When he finished, he hugged me. That was unexpected.

"Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you!" he squealed. This was starting to get weird. Ridillyn moved away and lay down on the floor of the cart, looking at the forest canopy dazedly.

"Did you get intoxicated on my blood or something?" I asked him. He was acting out of sorts.

"Maybe." he muttered, licking his lips.

"Yeah... let's keep going then. I want to see you move the cart magically."

"Okay." He sat up and put his palms on the floor. Then he started humming. Sure enough, the cart began to move. It was kind of creepy how it trundled along all by itself, but I got used to it. We were in town before noon, so I didn't complain. I was amazed at this display, even though I was still a bit annoyed that Ridillyn had been able to get me to give him blood again. Speaking of blood, the "drunkenness" seemed to have worn off, and I was relieved.

"Wow." I murmured. The people in the town were gaping, wide eyed. I was sitting in the cart, and it was moving all on its own. If I didn't look like a "witch" before, I definitely did now. The cart rolled to a stop and the townspeople just stared. Ridillyn stood up.

"I'm sleepy." he declared.

"The inn's that way." I pointed. Ridillyn steered the cart onto the side of the road, then jumped off. I followed him. He prodded Sirros awake and we walked towards the little inn near the outskirts of town. Ridillyn stumbled as we came into direct sunlight. "Are you sure sunlight doesn't affect vampires?" I asked dubiously. This was the second time he had showed weakness when in exposure to daylight.

"Well, it weakens my magic. Eirros shines in the day, and Darkness goes away until night. But it affects me not because I'm a vampire, but because I'm a demon." he explained as we trudged to the inn.

The innkeeper tensed fearfully as we walked in. Ridillyn ignored his expression.

"We need two rooms." he said simply. How could he induce such terror in people, even when he was calm? It was completely irrational.

"W-What're your n-names?" the man stammered.

"I'm Aire Miro, this is Sirros Alor, and this is Kitaek Fen. We're from Sonfun" The innkeeper's eyes nearly popped out of his head when he heard my name and saw me. He paled even more at the mention of Sonfun. I followed Ridillyn's example and ignored him. I felt a mixture of pity and mirth. It was funny how being accused of witchcraft made me so intimidating. Well, maybe it was the fact that I came back alive from Sonfun as well.

"Our rooms?" I reminded the man, since he was still frozen in place. He nodded numbly and handed us two keys. Ridillyn passed him some money, an amused expression on his face. We headed to the second floor. He and Sirros shared a room, while I got my own.

The place was pretty nice. It was plain, but cleanly. I knew that inns could be in much worse condition. I was tired. I had spent half of my morning being aggravated by Ridillyn, and then had my blood drained by him. I collapsed into the straw bed and fell asleep immediately.

xxxxxx

There was a knock on my door. I sat up sleepily and blinked the blurriness away. I felt cold and weak.

"You should get some dinner." Ridillyn's voice sounded through the door. I didn't see why not, food would do me some good. I got up, stretched, and trudged to the door. "Here." he said, handing me a flask of orange liquid. I recognized it as a healing potion.

"Thanks." I muttered. Even though he had been the cause of my blood loss, I was glad that he at least cared. I drained the half of the concoction in one gulp. It was tasteless, but refreshing. Ridillyn escorted me downstairs to dinner. I grabbed some food and began shoveling it into my mouth. I hadn't realized how ravenous I was until now.

"Feel better?" he asked after I'd finished.

"Yes." I conceded. The medicine's effects were starting to kick in. I decided to take a bath. Ridillyn accompanied me up the stairs and to the bathroom. After an hour of soaking, I felt much more relaxed.

As I walked back into the eating area, people stared. It was mainly because at this time of night, little girls weren't supposed to be going into the pub of sorts that it had changed into. Also, they seemed afraid of the wrath of the so-called "witch."

"We'll skip tonight and tomorrow. Kysis needs her rest as well." Ridillyn told me as I found him and sat down. "What're you all staring at?" he snapped at the onlookers. They quickly turned around and tried to act normal.

"She's in the stable?" Ridillyn nodded. "Why exactly are we going to Cyvit's castle?" I asked.

"This bit of Lytas, namely the state of Inctum, seems to hate Sonfun especially. They are also very anti-magic. It is probable that Lord Normin will have the book. He's not too dangerous, though. If it really is him, he'll just ask for money or some other payment for the book back. No big deal. However, there are other people in the castle who could have it. And of course, it might not even be there at all!"

I groaned. Just like with the Nolls. Hopefully we wouldn't need too much concentrated magic, I didn't fancy becoming Ridillyn's official blood donor.

xxxxxx

After a night and a day of idleness, through which I mostly slept, we were back on the road. I saw that my father's house and workshop had already been converted into some flower shop. It had only been less than a week since I was gone! Ridillyn interrupted my thoughts.

"Have you ever been up to the castle?" he asked.

"No. I don't think we're allowed, unless we're being arrested." I answered. He laughed lightly.

"Do you know anyone from the castle?" I'd started to shake my head, when I remembered.

"Wait, yes I do. The inquisitor who accused me!" I suddenly felt an inexorable flare of fury. For a second, I thought that there would be nothing sweeter than the sound of the inquisitor's choking gasps as he struggled against death. Ridillyn saw my face.

"There will be time for revenge later. If he truly has the book however, I'll be glad to take care of him for you." he drawled lazily.

"No, it's okay." I said. He wouldn't need to kill the man. I'd have finished him before he even got there!

"Hmm, we have an advantage, of course. I can do normal magic without any issues. It's mental attacks, telekinesis, and illusions that drain me, but I doubt we will need them." he murmured absent-mindedly

"Can you teach me some of the basic spells? I'd like to be better armed." I said.

"Yes I can. Some magic needs channeling, though. You won't be able to use that until you've got your own wand or staff. Now, the simpler things will be very easy for you, since your magic is strong. However, you need detailed knowledge of whatever you are casting on."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, let's take for example, healing. If you want to heal a wound, you have to know the depth and damage of it. You have to be able to imagine what you are repairing, see it come together in your mind. When this jars your magical power, you will be able to create that effect. However, you do need a wand for this, to direct the healing." Ridillyn explained.

"Oh, I understand. You have to be able to see what you want to do happen in your mind." I said.

"Yes, for basic 'making things happen' magic. It's a little different if you want to wound someone, however. You have to see and know what's under the skin, and that's hard to predict." he replied.

"Well, teach me that later. Right now, this is good." We had arrived at the base of the hills that led up to the castle. The first lord of Inctum wasn't a very bright man, and he had named the peaks the Mountains of Ice. It was a boring and rather inaccurate name, considering there was almost never any ice in the area.

"The sky is clear tonight." Ridillyn remarked. He was lying back in his seat, gazing upward. I copied him, letting the vast openness and the steady "clip-clop" of Kysis' hooves lull me into a semi-conscious state.

"Ridillyn, there's a bit of a problem." The sound of Sirros' voice jerked me out of my reverie.

"What is it?" Ridillyn inquired, alert. Sirros buried his face in his hands. We were at a fork in the road. The sign read _"Ken's Wood Village."_ on one arrows and _"Cyvit's Castle"_ on the other. The road to Cyvit's castle had a huge hole in it, and a sign that read, _"Road Closed."_

"The road, it, well, why don't you come over and see." Sirros muttered. Ridillyn got off the cart and walked over. He stopped at the front of the cart.

"Yes, this does seem a bit of an issue, doesn't it? I wonder how it works." This was beginning to confuse me. How what works? It was just a closed road! I decided to check it out for myself. I ambled over to where they were, and ran into something. The something seemed to be a solid wall of air. Or maybe just a solid wall.

"Ridillyn, what if this is an invisible wall. Or even a building?" I asked excitedly.

"That's a good point! We should check if there's a door or a corner to this." He put his palms on the wall and started edging away. It looked really comical, like some sort of mime show.

"Oh my." his voice came from behind the wall. I started, because I couldn't see him through it.

"Kite, it's a fence of some sort. And it's not invisible. It's only a good illusion. A _very_ good illusion. Come around this way." I followed his voice. When I turned the corner, I gaped at the sight. Behind the wall stood Ridillyn, and behind him was the road, perfectly unscathed.

"Why would anyone want to trick people into thinking that the road to the castle was closed?" I muttered.

"And I don't think it's anyone at the castle doing this. This is magic, and Inctum doesn't tolerate magic."

"Does that mean we have another enemy?" I moaned.

"Perhaps."


	5. Castle Demons

A/N: Thanks for reviewing! I didn't update yesterday, because I was at my friend's Bat Mitzvah celebration, which went from 10:00 in the morning to 10:00 at night. Yeah, too much partying. But, this chapter is a little longer than usual, about as long as chapter 1, which was my longest chapter. Anyways, enjoy!

xxxxxx

It had not been hard to get behind the wall and continue towards the castle, but it was extremely hard to figure out why the wall was there. Obviously, it was meant to stop people from going to Cyvit's castle, but none of us could figure out why that was the case.

"Maybe something bad has happened at the castle." I mused.

"Perhaps. We'll just have to go to the castle and see. But that doesn't seem right. If something bad happened, they would have actually closed off the road, instead of pretending that it was closed off." Ridillyn responded. This was frustrating. I couldn't wait to get to the castle, just so we could get answers.

Unfortunately, it would be another day and half a night before we reached the place. It was already nearly dawn. While Sirros and Kysis slept, Ridillyn and I would discuss strategy.

"How will we get inside the castle?" I asked.

"Through the front door." Ridillyn responded sarcastically. I rolled my eyes.

"You know what I mean."

"Brother and sister, husband and wife, master and servant?" he suggested.

"With what business?"

"Pick one first."

"Fine, master and servant, because it makes the most sense for a business trip." I grumbled. I didn't relish the thought of pretending to be Ridillyn's servant.

"I'm not sure what we could be going for." he muttered.

"We could just be diplomatic Sonfians." I suggested.

"Nah, they'd try to murder us in our sleep."

"How else will they let us in, besides for messages or negotiations?"

"Slave trade." he murmured quietly.

"What?"

"Some poor farmers sell their children into slavery. They usually end up working for the lord of the area. Rich people can buy slaves from each other, however. That's the only way we'll get in. I'll have Lanveld get us some gold." he explained. I shuddered at this unpleasant concept. Ridillyn busied himself with writing a note to the Archwizard.

"What do we say to the castle guards though?" I mumbled.

"We're here for the trade. Then you show them your money and they let you in."

"How do you know this?" I asked suspiciously. He shifted uncomfortably.

"I can remember from before I was born. I tailed a lord around, 'haunting' him. Well, only for awhile, I got bored later." I gaped at him. He remembered from _before_ he was born? That was new.

"Er, okay. I'll take your word for it." He nodded absent-absent mindedly. I decided to get some more rest.

xxxxxx

We finally arrived at the castle gates near midnight the next night. Hurriedly, we changed into more appropriate clothes for the region. Sure enough, Ridillyn's magic words and money were able to get us into the castle. A man spoke to Ridillyn as he led us down a dank stone passageway lit by torches.

"Sir, what kind of servant are you looking for?" the man asked.

"Oh, just someone to help, ah, file things." Ridillyn responded smoothly. I could tell that he had hurriedly made up the last part, but his naturally intimidating aura made it hard to notice.

"Oh yes, we have ones skilled in domestics and gardening. We've also got stable boys, if you need them. You can train them yourself, or buy one of the broken ones for a bit more." I couldn't believe how the man was talking. Sure, they were slaves, but they were still people! He was talking about them as if they were animals, pets.

"I don't need any specific skills. And I think I can hold my own against a rebellious servant." Ridillyn said coolly.

"Well, here we are." We had arrived in a dungeon like chamber, where miserable children of various ages sat huddled in tiny cells, chained to the walls. They had collars and leashes, like dogs. Some stared at the ground, and others glared at the man who had been leading us. A few looked up hopefully.

"Why don't you line them up? I can't judge very well through the bars." Ridillyn said. As a looked over the slaves again, I couldn't help but notice that all of them were human. I pointed this out quietly to him. He nodded and shrugged, which I took to mean that he had noticed, but didn't know why.

The man dragged the children out of their cells and jostled them towards the wall. They lined up reluctantly. Ridillyn looked them up and down. He scrutinized each, staring into their eyes and sometimes sniffing them. Finally, he moved back to the middle and said, "This one." The girl gaped. She looked to be about eleven or twelve, and her eyes had a determined spark to them. The man nodded and told Ridillyn the price. Wordlessly, he handed him a ridiculous amount of gold.

"You can stay for the night in one of the guest rooms." he told us. Ridillyn thanked him and followed him again. He handed the girl's leash to me. Once the man had left us in the room, he unhooked the chain.

"What's your name?" he asked the girl in a soft voice.

"Ama." she responded, looking down.

"Just Ama?"

"Ama Watkins."

"I'm Ridillyn Esoritus. And that is Kitaek Fen."

"Why are names important?" Ama asked. She seemed to be nervous.

"Well, what do you call people if you don't know their name? So, Ama, tell me honestly, do you have any friends in this place?" Ama shook her head no. Ridillyn smiled, and she recoiled. He turned to me.

"Kite, did you feel anything?" he asked me. What was he talking about? Then I remembered the book! It'd completely slipped my mind. My guilty expression must have shown.

"You forgot all about it, didn't you? It doesn't matter. If it was in range, you would have felt it, and known it. Well, now that leaves most of the rest of the castle to search. At least we've got the more secret parts down." he sighed.

"I hope it's in the castle. I'm already weary of this trip." I muttered.

"Do you want to go back?"

"Go back to where? Of course not, I'm staying. Besides, I'm your long distance magic radar." Ridillyn chortled, and I laughed a little too. Ama stared at us with wide eyes.

"What're you talking about?" she asked. She seemed a little less uneasy.

"We're looking for a book." Ridillyn told her.

"It was stolen, we need it back." I added.

"Oh."

"I'm thirsty." informed Ridillyn.

"Don't even think about asking me." I muttered. "And you said you could go for a long time without feeding."

"I _can_ go for a long time. I just don't like to." he corrected.

"There's no way you're persuading me _again_." I sat down on the ground resolutely. Ama's eyes were darting between us, and her brow was furrowed. She must have been trying extremely hard to figure out what we were talking about.

"What if I got you a knife?"

"No. And you promised never to pester me again." He stuck his tongue out at me and sat down too. Ama looked bewildered. "Ask him." I told her, pointing to Ridillyn. She did.

"I'm a vampire." he mumbled. Her mouth fell into an 'O.'

"He's the next royal Nosferatu." I snorted. "It's burned into his arm." He hugged his right arm close. I laughed. He glared at me.

"So, where were you from, before you got put into the slave pit?" he asked Ama, changing the subject.

"Ken's Wood Village. They're still afraid of the demon in the castle, so they give up a kid every year." she replied.

"What demon?" Ridillyn inquired, perking up.

"Cyvit. The one the castle's named after."

"What? But there isn't a demon named Cyvit at all!"

"Exactly what I said. Demons don't exist."

"No, demons definitely exist. But the demon Cyvit doesn't. The closest I can think of would be the demon Cecil, and that's not particularly close."

"Right, we need to search for the book. Are you coming?" I asked Ridillyn. He nodded.

"Ama, stay here and make yourself comfortable. I don't think it'd be a good idea to take you along. Hopefully, we'll be back undetected and unscathed." he said in a cheerful tone. Ridillyn was so weird sometimes.

We set off, strolling out the doors casually. Ridillyn used his memory of his "haunt" and his natural wizarding and vampiric intuition to guide us. This meant we got lost rather quickly. Multiple times, we found ourselves in dead ends or walking in circles. So far, I hadn't felt anything magical.

That abruptly changed as we ambled down another staircase. I froze.

"I feel something." I told Ridillyn. He shrugged, and made a motion for me to lead the way. I followed the faint pulse. After a while, he could feel it too, and we both made for it. The waves congregated at a bedroom door. "Is it the book?" I asked excitedly. Ridillyn shook his head, and I sighed in disappointment.

"No, but it's still worth investigating. Why would someone have a clearly magical item in the anti-magic state of Inctum? This looks like the permanent residence wing."

"Should we go inside?"

"Let's go, there's no one near this place."

We stepped in, and lying on a table, at the center of the thrumming, was a book!

"What in all the magical worlds!" Ridillyn exclaimed "It's _another_ copy!"

"Do you think our thief has learned about magic?" I asked him.

"No, the magic isn't even coming from the book. It's that rock over there." I glanced over at the table again. Sure enough, a strange rock was sitting on top of the fake book. I groaned. Ridillyn's eyes widened, and he put a finger to his mouth. "Someone's coming, hide!" he hissed. I ducked behind the sofa, and he crawled under the bed. We were just in time, as the door opened a second later.

I was glad we had not gotten to actually looking at the book. If we had moved it, the resident of the room would have surely known that someone else had been interested in it! As I glimpsed said resident, I had to stifle a gasp. It was the inquisitor! What was _he_ doing with the book, or a magic rock? He was the one who kept preaching all that junk about how magic was evil!

The inquisitor walked over to the table with the book and rock on it. He picked up the rock and passed it over the book.

"Tell to me all your secrets!" he muttered. I heard a choked hiccup from under the bed. Ridillyn seemed to be attempting to stifle hoots of amusement. Fortunately, the inquisitor was too focused on chanting and waving the rock around like a fool to hear.

I saw the tip of Ridillyn's wand poke out from under the bed. I hoped he wasn't doing anything stupid. It twitched, but nothing seemed to happen. The inquisitor set down the rock and opened the book.

"It worked!" he exclaimed, and strolled out of the room excitedly. As soon as he was out of earshot, the bed shook with a demonic cackling.

"What did you do?" I asked Ridillyn. He gasped, clutching at the carpet, still laughing uncontrollably.

"I made his bogus spell 'work.'" he said between snorts. "It filled up the pages. But with a ton of nonsense." I couldn't help it, I started laughing too. Then our current situation hit me in the face, and I stopped.

"Let's go back to our room before he comes back to find us giggling on his carpet." I told Ridillyn. He nodded, still shaking, and we walked out, innocent looks plastered on our faces. After awhile, we realized that we were lost.

"Oh bother." Ridillyn grumbled.

"Let's ask someone." I suggested.

"Ask who?" he muttered. I looked around. The halls were empty. Just our luck.

"Let's follow the left wall. We'll have to get out of here some time." I said.

"That only works in mazes. But we can, since there's nothing better to do." So we proceeded to do as such. Like Ridillyn predicted, it didn't work. We just got more lost.

"This is hopeless! Why can't this place have been built around a controlled termite hole too?" I complained.

"We could unravel string to see where we've been. Then we could go around the entire castle. We'll find our room _eventually._" Ridillyn said. I turned to stare at him. He was being serious.

"Don't you think the castle staff would notice if we unraveled string all over?" I pointed out, annoyed.

"We could unravel our magic."

"What? Wouldn't that be dangerous?"

"No. People can't steal your magic unless they absorb your soul or something."

"Fine, let's do it." Ridillyn showed me how to unravel magic. You just had to imagine that it was like string. The magic unraveled as we walked, leaving an invisible trail behind us. We could tell if we were walking in circles, and by going down different hallways each time, we finally did manage to get back to our room. By that time, we were absolutely exhausted, and nearly out of magic. I reeled mine back in like a spool of thread, and felt Ridillyn do the same next to me.

Ama looked up as we stumbled into the room.

"Did you find it?" she asked.

"We found another fake." I answered. Ridillyn and I sat down on the bed, exhausted.

"What do you mean another?" He pulled the first book out of his sleeve, opening it to show Ama that it was blank.

"This was the first fake we found." he informed her. She looked at him, wide eyed. "Anyways, we should go to sleep. I don't want to lose more spiritual energy than I need to."

Following this pronouncement, we both lay down and fell into nothingness.

xxxxxx

Ridillyn, Ama, and I were seated in the back of the cart. Sirros was driving again, and we were headed to Ken's Wood Village to drop Ama back off with her parents. Apparently, she had been selected for the "sacrifice" because she was runty, and her parents had been heartbroken. Ridillyn would tell them some bogus story about the demon having refused such a small sacrifice, and given it to another to take.

The cart rattled into town. Ama directed Sirros to her home. Ridillyn hopped off and knocked on the door. A tired looking woman opened the door. Her eyes widened at the sight of Ama.

"Mother!" Ama shrieked, hugging her tightly. The woman buried her face in her daughter's hair, crying tears of joy. Then she looked up at Ridillyn.

"Thank you." she rasped. Her voice was hoarse, probably from too much weeping. "What are you?" she asked again, probably having seen his red eyes.

"He's a vampire." Ama piped up. Ridillyn smiled slightly.

"That I am." he said. Her mother recoiled slightly. "Don't worry, I didn't touch Ama."

"Yeah, you were too busy irritating me." I muttered. He gave me a glare that would have made anyone else flinch in fear, but I knew that he was just teasing.

"Well, we'd best be off." he told Ama's mother.

"No, please, wait. The townspeople will never believe that a demon came in the night to return my daughter. You have to stay and tell them!" she pleaded desperately. Ridillyn shifted uneasily.

"Do you think I could round us to Keave?" he asked me.

"We're going all the way to Keave? Definitely round us!" I half shouted. It would take forever for our cart to get as far north as that, especially if we could only move at night.

"I'll have to make the pentacle bigger for the cart. That means more everlasting ice used."

"Couldn't we ask Lanveld for more if we needed it?"

"Oh, good point. I forgot all about our handy cabinet! Alright Mrs, Watkins, we'll stay for now."

Ama's mother sighed in relief.

"Would you like to stay with us for the night?" she asked. Ridillyn shrugged.

"Do you have a stable?" he inquired.

"Yes we do." a new voice said. A man appeared behind Mrs. Watkins. I assumed that he was Ama's father.

"Where is it?" Ridillyn followed Mr. Watkins, and Sirros went after them with the cart. I turned to Mrs. Watkins, who was still standing in the doorway.

"Er, I'm Kite." I said awkwardly, holding out my hand. She took it and shook it stiffly.

"Are you a demon too?" she asked nervously. I shook my head hard. She seemed relieved. Ridillyn came back with Mr. Watkins.

"I'm thirsty." he said, when no one spoke.

"No you're not." I responded. He grimaced at me.

"What if I am?"

"I know you're not."

"Would you like to come in?" Mrs. Watkins muttered uncertainly. I nodded, and dragged Ridillyn in with me before he could make more awkward comments.

"Thank you." I said. Mr. Watkins walked in, and she shut the door. She found some blankets for us and set them up on the floor.

"Sorry about the shoddy accommodations." she apologized. I told her that it was fine. With nothing better to do, I lay down to sleep. Instead of doing the same, Ridillyn crawled over and rested his nose on my neck.

"What're you doing?" I mumbled, my voice muffled by the blankets.

"Breathing you in." he replied. I couldn't think of anything to say in response to this. He took deep breaths, each exhalation tickling me lightly. I squirmed. "If you're going to be the Royal Archwizard in the future, you should get used to this."

"I never said I was going for that position. It was your idea." I responded. I couldn't sleep with him leaning over me. "What does being Royal Archwizard entail anyway?"

"The Royal Archwizard oversees all warding spells on the citadel, and tends to the king personally. He or she manages the traffic in the castle termite passage, and is also responsible for resolving any identification issues. The king is entitled to drink the blood of the Archwizard at any time, as long as it is in reasonable amounts." he finished with a smirk. I narrowed my eyes.

"I bet you love the last part." I grumbled. He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply again.

"By the time you make the position, I'll be king." he whispered quietly, nuzzling my neck. I prodded him in the forehead.

"I still haven't said that I would go for the position at all."

"You will. I just know it." I harrumphed and moved my arms up to cushion my head. Then I tried my best to ignore Ridillyn and go to sleep.

xxxxxx

Something was prodding me on my side. I recoiled, moving away from it. It followed and kept poking.

"Stop it!" I mumbled incoherently.

"Rise and shine, Kite! I'm going to teach you to use some magic today." This effectively woke me up. It was not the message really, more of Ridillyn's voice in my ear. I batted him away and looked around. It seemed to be a little after dawn. No wonder I was so tired.

"Did you sleep at all?" I asked him, seeing the still neat pile of blankets next to me.

"I did, but I used you as a pillow. You didn't seem to mind." he said. I gaped at him. He just smiled. "Come on, get up. We need to go explain how Ama appeared back here in the middle of the night." I nodded numbly.

"Do you have a hairbrush?" I asked him. He looked around in his sleeve, and then handed me one. I took it silently and dragged it through my tangled mop of hair. He took it back from me and brushed his own out as well. I noticed that it was actually really long, hanging down to mid back, only a tad shorter than mine. I hadn't ever seen his hair down before this.

He dragged me out of my thoughts- literally. Ama's mother was just coming out of the bedroom.

"Oh, you're up. Can you go talk to the mayor now?" she asked Ridillyn.

"Of course, whenever you say." he told her. She nodded and smiled gratefully.

There weren't many people about as we walked in the direction of the mayor's house. Ridillyn wrinkled his nose at the splendor of the place compared to the rest of town. We knocked on the door, and an irritated looking butler opened it.

"Excuse me, we need to see the mayor." Ridillyn said softly. The man's expression immediately switched to bewilderment. He nodded slowly.

"Yes, please come with me." he murmured. We were led upstairs to a room with lavish decorations. The mayor, in his nightclothes, was sitting on the bed.

"What is the meaning of this?" he shouted, outraged. He seemed to have anger issues.

"Just something about your, ah, 'sacrifices' to the demon Cyvit." Ridillyn replied calmly, the corner of his lip twitching.

"What about them? It appeases the demon and rids the town of useless riffraff."

"Riffraff, you say? And how exactly is the daughter of a respectable herder considered 'riffraff?'" Ridillyn's tone was icy, but the mayor didn't seem to notice.

"Well, she's so small! Useless to the community." he muttered.

"Small? I was under the impression that children are supposed to be small."

"Yeah, well what is it to you?" he grunted.

"The demon is displeased." was all Ridillyn said by way of response.

"How do you know?" the mayor snapped. "Actually, you don't. Hate to break it to you, but demons are a myth, and I get money when I sell off the villagers." Ridillyn smiled widely.

"Dear mayor, you are a little off there. Demons are not a myth, although Cyvit is. And there _is_ a displeased demon- in your room." he hissed. This was the first time the mayor glanced up. And what he saw made his jaw drop in terror. Ridillyn was grimacing diabolically, red eyes aglow.

"But, you... you can't, there's no such thing, demons aren't real!" the mayor stammered.

"I could just stop here, to teach you a lesson. Or I could tear you apart..." Ridillyn crooned. The butler seemed to have come to his senses. He lunged. Ridillyn snarled, grabbing him by the collar, and slammed him into the wall. The man punched and kicked, trying to get out of his grasp. "But your blood is corrupted, disgusting." he continued, ignoring the butler's struggling. "So I'll just demonstrate with this one here."

Ridillyn sunk his teeth into the man's neck before the mayor could speak. He gulped loudly, turning into an animalistic monster before us. The mayor trembled, looking slightly green. I didn't relish the thought of watching Ridillyn kill again. But he didn't kill the man. He stopped when the butler fell unconscious, but not dead. Ridillyn turned to me.

"Magic lesson number one: healing." he said, whipping out his wand. "Channel your magic through the wand, imagining the flow of power. Direct the power to repair damage done." He pointed at the man's neck and flicked his wand. The wound healed. "Just like when we unraveled, picture your power as a tangible thing."

"You... you... how?" the mayor croaked. Ridillyn whirled around to face him.

"As for you, you should consider this a fair warning. Appreciate the fact that you are alive and unscathed. Appreciate the lives of your townspeople." The mayor nodded slowly. Ridillyn scowled and stalked out the door. "Come, Kite. If we are to do long distance rounding, we must be meticulous in our setup." I followed him, not looking back.

xxxxxx

Half the town had gathered to watch us as we drew the pentacle. Ridillyn murmured under his breath, twisting his wand. I felt a surge of energy spout from the tip, and saw the etching that resulted in the ground. I sprinkled the everlasting ice into the outline, making sure that there was no overflow. Directing my magic as he had taught me, I made the spread of the "ice" as even as possible.

It was night, and we were ready to go. The cart was sitting in the middle of the pentacle, and Ridillyn stood upon it.

"Redrob Sorca, adaven fo ymedaka nostivad et, Evaek!" he shouted, and we were surrounded by a huge smoky cyclone. I was lifted up and thrust effortlessly, finally being smashed into the ground. The smoke died down, and I saw that everyone was okay, if a bit windswept.

I could tell at once that we were in Keave. For one, it was swelteringly hot, especially after the cool climate of the south. Plus, there was a stone sign that read: _"Maweklaw Aet Keave."_ I supposed that that meant "welcome to Keave." We were in the middle of thick jungle, but fortunately there was a road.

"Ridillyn, what do they speak here?" I asked him as we settled down into the cart.

"A mixture of Droscan and Lithian. Maybe some Anglian." he responded.

"Well, I can only speak Lithian!" I hissed. He shrugged.

"It doesn't matter. We won't be talking to anyone. And I can speak all three."

"Good for you." I muttered.

"You should learn Anglian. A lot of people in other worlds speak it." he remarked.

"What use is that? Almost no one in _this_ world speaks it!" I huffed.

"Well, you'll have to traverse the twenty magical worlds before you can become Archwizard." he said. I glared at him.

"All the more reason to _not_ become Archwizard!"

We continued to argue about languages and the point of becoming the Royal Archwizard, when the cart jerked to an abrupt stop, and Sirros turned around and mouthed, "Shh," putting a finger to his lips.

Ridillyn and I got out of the cart carefully. He whispered to Sirros to stay, and then beckoned for me to follow him. We snuck through the underbrush, trying not to snap twigs or bump into things. After awhile, I heard what Sirros and Ridillyn must have heard earlier: the sound of voices. We finally made it near enough to hear what they were saying.

"What do you mean you lost the book?" a raspy male voice shrieked.

"I didn't lose it, I sold it!" a second voice, this time younger sounding, replied.

"You sold it! Do you know how much we had to pay to get our hands on that?" the first voice demanded.

"Yep, and I sold it for more! You should be grateful I got such a deal."

"I didn't want the book for money! I was going to read it, so that we could summon up a demon! You could have sold it _after_ I'd finished."

"Why'd we want to summon a demon?" the second voice questioned.

"So we could steal things more easily. Think of it, a demon at our disposal!" Ridillyn had to fight off laughter, clamping his hand over his mouth and plugging his nose.

"What was the book called again?"

"Demonica. I think it means 'Book of Demons.' With a name like that, it definitely would have had instructions on controlling demons! Anyway, I only got to read the first bit."

Ridillyn was curled up in a ball, elbow in his stomach, shuddering with the effort of keeping silent. I slapped him upside the head. He gasped, gulping in air, and mouthed "Thank you."

"Well, what's gone is gone. At least you got us more money than we had before." the first voice sighed.

"Yeah, I'm sorry. If I'd known..." the voices were getting farther and farther away. Once even Ridillyn could no longer hear them, he spoke.

"Do you think they have the real book?" he asked.

"Well, they obviously don't have it anymore, but I think they did have it before." I replied.

"Do you think it may have been the inquisitor's copy that I filled with filler text?"

"No, it's only been two nights. Unless he rounded too, the inquisitor couldn't have gotten this far."

"I suppose."

"So this means that the book is probably still in Keave!"

"Yep."


	6. Paper Birds

A/N: Profuse apologies for such a late update! But school started and we were flooded with an avalanche of homework and projects. Add writer's block and a file-deleting computer on top of that, and you get... well, a late update. Be glad that it's a rewritten version, much better than the eked out one that I created while afflicted with writer's block. Anyways, enjoy the late chapter. I'll try to update weekly from now on.

xxxxxx

Ridillyn whipped out a quill and some paper, and wrote a hurried note. Then he folded it into a paper dove, tapped it with his wand, and threw it into the air. It flew off by itself.

"What was that?" I asked.

"I gave it some energy and sent it off to find the cart. I'm telling Sirros to settle down and not wait for us. We're going to head after the men. They could lead us to the book." he whispered before darting in the direction that the two men had gone. I rushed after him.

The men were easy to catch up to and follow. They didn't bother to be quiet, so we didn't have to either. Soon, we were near enough to understand what they were saying.

"Where are we going?" the younger voice asked.

"_Exactly what I was wondering."_ I thought.

"To town, I'm sick of this forest, and I want some ale." the older man grunted.

As we neared civilization, the trees thinned down, and Ridillyn and I were forced to slow our pace so we would not be seen. Once the men were out of sight, we started forward again, walking on the rugged path that had appeared.

The town looked to be built in a huge crater, meaning that we had a good view of most of it. A crumbling stone barrier was raised around the circumference, and a chipped sign was tacked to the gate. The paint was so worn that I couldn't see at all what it said. It was probably the name of the town.

The place was extremely strange. Buildings of every conceivable shape and size were crowded together, with cobbled path winding in between. Strange, spherical structures hung from trees, with occasional windows. On the far side of the crater was a chapel with numerous adornments from many different religions painted, tacked, and draped all over it. Ridillyn snorted beside me.

"The most religiously tolerant country in the world indeed." he murmured.

"Where'd they go?" I muttered. He shrugged and walked into town. I followed him, hoping he knew where we were going. Despite the overall shabbiness of the town, the wealth of the people in it varied as much as the shapes of their houses. There were women in flowery gowns with impossible hairstyles rushing past grimy, half-naked girls on the street who were flaunting themselves at the passing men. Gentlemen with fancy suits and bowler hats stalked by, casting disgusted looks on ragged beggars holding out their hats for spare change. The men we were tailing were just up ahead, laughing their heads off at something or another. We crept close enough to hear what they were saying.

"Malcolm, I feel weird in this place. No one seems to be human!" the younger man grumbled.

"Deal with it Clyde, we're here for a job. Plus, we just might be able to steal that book back, if you had enough brains to see who you were selling it to." the older one, Malcolm, replied.

"How are we going to keep tailing them without rousing suspicion, if they're here for something specific?" I hissed at Ridillyn. He grinned a sharp toothed grin at me. That did not bode well.

"You're going to go up to them and ask them to take you along. Tell them that you're lost and want to find your brother." he told me.

"Aren't I a bit old for that?" I snapped. For Eirros' sake, I was fifteen!

"Well, in reality, yes. But tindrins don't grow much until they're in their late twenties, so you could probably pass for an eight-year-old, I'd say." I glared at him. The tone in which he said that ticked me off. Was he implying that I was short?

"What if they don't believe me?" I muttered.

"Well, let's start with if they _do_ believe you. They will do one of three things. They can offer their help, refuse it, or kidnap you. Judging from what we've heard so far, the last two are rather likely." he stated. I stared at him in disbelief.

"What will I do if I get kidnapped? It's easy for you to say, since you'll just be watching." I fumed.

"I won't just be watching, I'll be posing as your older brother! That way I can follow them more easily, and save you if I have to."

"I see a hole in that plan. We're of different species!" I half shouted. He motioned for me to keep it down.

"It won't matter. As a true born, I'm practically a new species altogether. Besides, you didn't exactly know what I was when you saw me either. I could pass for tindrin with a few minor alterations." he responded, wiggling his fingers.

"I thought illusions drained you."

"It won't be that much and it won't be for long. Besides, I'll get hungry later anyways, why not make some room for the extra spiritual energy?" he mused. I had the ominous feeling that I would be the one sating his hunger. I was snapped out of my thoughts when Ridillyn poked me and gestured towards the men. I took a deep breath and ran for them through the maze of people and carts that populated the streets.

"Excuse me sir, have you seen my big brother?" I said to Clyde in a high voice, because he looked nicer than Malcolm. "I've looked all over, but I just can't find him!" I cried, breaking into a fit of sobs. I could pretend to cry when I had to.

"What does he look like?" asked Clyde. I just remembered that I'd forgotten to ask how Ridillyn would be disguising himself. I thought furiously, damning my idiocy.

"He has dark hair, and his eyes change color. They're usually blue though." I said quickly. I hoped that Ridillyn would give himself blue eyes. He had said minor alterations, so I assumed that he wouldn't change his hair color.

"Hmm. How old are you, girl?" he asked me. I hoped I could pull this off.

"Eight or so summers." I whispered through my fake tears.

"Oh, well why don't you come with us?" he said in a kindly voice. "What's your name?" I had a feeling of foreboding. He was probably plotting against me. At the least, he wasn't going to help a little girl find her brother, since he hadn't asked for more details. There were hundreds of blue-eyed, dark haired people around, ever since the holocaust in New Amerok that killed off most of the other people. At the worst, he would kidnap me and do something horrible. I hoped that Ridillyn was near enough to stop it, whatever it was.

"S-sure. My name is K-Karen." I stammered, wiping my face on my sleeve. He held out his hand, and I took it. His grasp was firm, a little too firm. It was strange walking into a trap that I was mostly aware of. Now I knew how Ridillyn felt when he walked into the pitfall back in Lytas. I tried to act unaware, looking down at my feet and sniffling occasionally. It worked. The men went back to talking, although their speech was a little more guarded.

"Who did you sell the book to?" Malcolm asked.

"A man who said that he collected books, and really wanted one of the volumes of that set. He claimed to be from Verna Dosche." Clyde replied.

"Do you think we could, ah, retrieve it from him?" I was sure that Malcolm was talking about stealing it back.

"Maybe. As long as he leaves his carriage unguarded. I know where he's headed. We could find him in our own wagon."

"Take the kid along." said Malcolm.

"So, uh, Karen, would you like to come along with us to meet this man?" Clyde asked me.

"I guess." I said. A grin flitted across his features before they returned to their previous thoughtful expression. Soon enough, we reached the location of their covered wagon. A disgruntled chestnut horse was hitched to it, snorting and stamping. I remembered to act afraid of it. Clyde patted my shoulder and lifted me up onto the vehicle. It appeared that Malcolm would be driving. As we started off, I remembered, too late, that Ridillyn wouldn't be able to follow us if we were going at full speed. "How are we going to find my brother?" I voiced.

"Oh, well, we'll worry about that later. After we've had some fun." That did not sound good at all. We had entered the forest again, with its muffling racket. At least we were following the path, which only went one way. That way, I could find the town again if I had to. It was rapidly nearing nightfall. I had no idea if I would need to sleep or not. As of late, my sleeping patterns had been decidedly odd. In general, I slept when I was tired, and otherwise not.

The wagon stopped a little after dusk, and Malcolm climbed into the back. Clyde turned and started advancing towards me. I backed away instinctively. Unfortunately, the wagon was rather small. He pinned me against the wall and started unbuttoning my shirt. Realizing his intentions, I kicked at him, but missed. However, he flew back and slammed into the opposite wall, out cold. I gaped as much as Malcolm. I did not know that I could do that. Malcolm recovered from his shock and dived at me. I was not fast enough to dodge, and he tackled me to the floor. A second later, he was ripped off of me and thrown into the wall, right on top of Clyde with a sickening crunch. I looked up and saw Ridillyn smirking at me in the gloom.

"Looks like I was a little late. Good job with the first one though." he remarked conversationally.

"What? That was an accident... I don't know how--" I began, but he interrupted me.

"Oh no, there's no such thing as accidentally slamming someone into a wall. That, Kite, was your raw magic, rather crude, but magic all the same." I gaped at him.

"You! I'll kill you!" a voice croaked from nearby. It was Malcolm, and he had managed to get up onto his feet, although he was still a bit unstable.

"Oh dear, you must have me mistaken for someone else. I'm just Kite's good friend." Ridillyn remarked. Malcolm growled. I had frozen at the last part of Ridillyn's statement. He had said that he was my good friend. Was that true, or was he just bluffing? I had always thought of him as my ally, but had he become my friend? I answered my own question: yes. He had proven it by coming to help me. Allies could be left to fend for themselves, but friends were protected at all costs.

Malcolm jumped at Ridillyn. This was a bad idea however, since he was a powerful vampire, not a little girl. Malcolm bowled right into him, but instead of knocking him over, he was caught in Ridillyn's arms. He pinned Malcolm's arms behind him with one of his hands, and forced his head back with the other. For the first time, I noticed that Ridillyn had sharp nails. Malcolm cried out as Ridillyn tore into his neck, not bothering to keep his other teeth from sinking in as well. Blood poured out, and he slurped it up greedily. It was an extremely hideous sight, especially since blood was dripping down his chin and onto his tunic. When Malcolm passed out, Ridillyn let him go, licking his own face clean. I was astonished at how far his tongue could reach, even past the tip of his nose.

"Here, you can try to heal him." he told me, thrusting his wand into my hands. I fumbled, but caught it. Doing as he had showed me earlier, I concentrated on repairing the bloody gash in the side of Malcolm's throat. It was a miracle that he wasn't dead. I assumed that Ridillyn had taken care to avoid the jugular vein. As I directed the wand over the wound, the edges started to join up a little. I looked up, and Ridillyn gave me a nod. I concentrated harder, and to my astonishment, it sealed up almost completely. It was far from the nearly unscarred perfection that Ridillyn could achieve, but it was a good first try. "Good job." he told me. I handed the wand back to him

"Why didn't you kill him?" I inquired. He raised his eyebrows. "Not that I want you to." I added hurriedly.

"I don't like killing, it leaves a mess behind. Besides, we still need these two to tell us where the book is, and if one of them is dead, the other is less likely to speak." he said nonchalantly. He was waving his wand at himself, siphoning the blood from his clothes. I nodded. Another question sprang into my head.

"How did you get here so fast?" I asked Ridillyn. He laughed lightly.

"I ran." he said simply. I narrowed my eyes.

"You told me vampires couldn't run super fast."

"And so they can't. I used manipulative mental magic. It's all about the imagination. Too bad it drains my spiritual energy. I suppose it's a good thing this man was here to replenish my store." he chuckled.

"I still don't understand what constitutes as mental magic and physical magic." I muttered. From what he had said, mental magic seemed rather physical as well.

"Mental magic includes illusions, mind attacks, transfer of energy use, and defying the laws of physics for short periods of time. Physical magic merely changes the state of things, as with healing. It does not require excessive use of spiritual energy to allow forces from other universes to leak through." he responded. "Generally, magic is a mix of the two, but only powerful mental magic will use a significant amount of spiritual energy."

"Okay, I'll take your word for it." I said. I wasn't in the mood to comprehend strange magical theory. In fact, I was feeling rather sick. The wagon smelled strongly of blood, although none was to be seen. "How do you stand the smell of it?" I groaned.

"The smell of what?" Ridillyn inquired.

"Blood." I hissed, clenching my teeth to keep from gagging.

"I like it. It's what I eat, after all. One gets used to it if it is all one has ever had." he said. I nodded.

"I understand. That doesn't mean I like it too, however. I think I'll go outside." I grunted, moving for the door. The fresh air was welcome after the rusty smell of blood. I breathed deeply, clearing my lungs of the wretched scent. I walked around the wagon, stretching my legs and studying the surroundings. We were to the side of the forest path, just before the place where the trees began to grow too closely to park. The horse was agitated, shaking its head and rolling its eyes, but it was not making a sound. I moved over to calm it, stroking it and crooning nonsense. It settled down some.

"Kite, you should come in." came Ridillyn's voice. I sighed and went back over to the side of the wagon with the door. I opened it and stepped in. Clyde was now conscious, and sitting sullenly in a corner. Malcolm was still out, of course, lying on a cot by the wall. Evidently, Clyde could also smell the sickening aroma of blood in the air.

"So, what will we do now?" I asked.

"You should get some sleep. You haven't slept in nearly two days, and you used more energy to throw _him_ across the room." Ridillyn told me, pointing at Clyde.

"Shouldn't you sleep too?"

"For me, feeding is like sleeping, except more. I'll be fine." I glanced at him dubiously and shrugged. He could do whatever he wanted. I went over to the seat in the back and lay down on it, closing my eyes.

xxxxxx

Sunlight was filtering through the ceiling boards when I awoke. Ridillyn was sitting on the edge of the bench, next to me.

"Good morning." I murmured sleepily.

"Good afternoon." he corrected. I sat up immediately. Ridillyn chortled. "Glad to see you refreshed and awake. I was waiting to see what Clyde had to say."

"I wonder if the person with the book is the same one who was making the copies."

"Well, you can ask him yourself." Ridillyn responded.

"Fine." I grunted, standing up and looking around. Malcolm was asleep and snoring. Clyde was still sitting in the same corner, but his expression was different. His eyes were wide and fearful, and he was huddled into a ball. He gazed up at me angrily as I approached. "Where is the man with the book?" I figured that this would be a good way to start.

"He was headed to Port Oleus, which is where this path leads." he said tonelessly.

"Let's go there now, Kite." Ridillyn proposed.

"How do we know he's telling the truth?" I demanded.

"Oh, he's telling the truth alright." he murmured quietly. I wondered what he had done to Clyde.

"Right, well, who's driving?"

"Well, since there's only one horse, I figured that I could work the cart by riding it. Otherwise, I might crash it." he replied. I rolled my eyes.

"As long as we get there." I muttered. He laughed and headed outside.

"You can keep interrogating Clyde, he'll answer you, I made sure of that."

"What did you do to him?" I called after him.

"I'll tell you later." he returned. Shaking my head, I turned to Clyde, who was now staring listlessly at the wall opposite him. I noticed that the smell of blood was still in the air. Well, that was a bummer. Suddenly, there was a thump on the side of the wagon, and an exclamation from Ridillyn. I opened the door again and looked out.

"What was that?" I asked. A piece of paper hit me in the face. I peeled it off and looked at it. It seemed to be a note from Sirros. I recognized the letters in his name. However, that did not mean that I could read the thing. "What does it say?" I grumbled at Ridillyn.

"You can't read?" he exclaimed.

"No, I'm from a rural village, remember." I muttered.

"I should teach you. Anyways, Sirros wants to know if we've found the book. Also, he wants our whereabouts so that he and Kysis can join us. They're leaving the cart somewhere safe." Ridillyn informed me. He was rummaging around in his sleeve, finally coming up with a pen and more paper. He penned the note swiftly, using the side of the wagon as a desk, and folded it into a bird and sent it off again. This was a curious way to send mail indeed.

"Let's get going now. I want to make it before the book is out of the continent." I said, turning away to head back inside once the paper bird flew out of sight. As soon as I closed the door, the wagon began to move. It trundled along slowly, testimony to Ridillyn's poor riding skills. I decided to make efficient use of my time to question Clyde some more. As I stepped towards him, he recoiled. I really wanted to know what Ridillyn had done to make him so submissive all of a sudden. "So, did you read any of the book?"

To my surprise, Clyde nodded. He shivered nervously. I supposed he had remembered some of what was in the book.

"What did it say?" I continued.

"It was like a d-diary of some sort. B-but it made me feel s-strange." he stuttered. I was curious. Was the strange feeling he got actually the feel of magic? Perhaps Clyde had his own magical potential. Well, if it gave off a strange feeling, it was definitely the real thing.

"Do you know where he," I gestured at Malcolm, "got it?"

"From a young woman, I think. Why do you care about this all anyways? How does it relate to you?" he shrieked.

"Well, it was stolen from us, and we want it back. Besides, it's dangerous."

"Dangerous? It's just a book!"

"There are a lot of dangerous things about books."

Clyde shook his head, looking down at his feet again. The wagon lurched, and I nearly lost my balance. I sat down before it could happen again.

"Summoning a demon would have been great though." muttered Clyde.

"There's a demon traveling with us right now." I remarked dryly. His eyes widened.

"What do you mean?" he gasped. I pointed out the front of the wagon. Clyde gaped at me. "He's a demon?"

"Essentially." I replied. Clyde was shaking his head slowly, blinking as if to clear his vision. He didn't seem eager to believe me. "He's a vampire." I added, to clarify. Clyde recoiled instinctively at the word.

"I know that, actually." he murmured, flinching away. That was when I saw the long red gashes in his neck; evidently, Ridillyn had not found him important enough to heal fully. So this was what he had done to terrorize Clyde into meekness. "How old are you, really?" he muttered.

"Fifteen." I said. He glared at me. "And you?"

"Twenty-one. So we're not so far apart in age." he mused. I shrugged.

"Does it matter?"

"Tell me, does he ever drink your blood?" he inquired.

"Yes. Why?"

"So you're just his food?" he muttered.

"No, I'm his magical radar who is able to provide good blood." I corrected.

"Shouldn't he treat you better? You're his sidekick, aren't you?"

"He treats me fine. I would have died if he hadn't found me, so the least I could do is help return his book to him."

"Doesn't it hurt when he bites?" Clyde pressed.

"I've taken so much emotional pain from my own people that a little physical pain is nothing. And anyways, I'm the one who's supposed to be asking the questions, not you." I snapped. He was starting to irritate me, and, although I hate to admit it, he was making me doubt. Was Ridillyn just using me as a magical detector and a blood donor? No, he saved me yesterday. But he still needed me to help him find the book. No he didn't, he could sense it from almost as far away as I could. I couldn't afford to mistrust him because of the things Clyde had said. Clyde was our prisoner, and this was what he wanted.

The steady clip-clop of hooves abated, and the wagon stopped. Were we there already? It didn't seem like we had traveled far enough for that to be possible.

"Kite, I think you should come out here and see this." came Ridillyn's voice. Curious, I did as he said and walked out to the front. At first, I didn't see anything unusual, but then my eyes found what they were looking for. The ground before me was blackened, and a trail of burnt-out remains led into deeper forest.

"We should see where it goes." I muttered. I couldn't help it, my curiosity was overwhelming.

"I can set up some wards around the wagon so it can't be moved, and so the men cannot escape while we're gone. They say curiosity killed the cat, but I disagree." I nodded at this, and watched as he passed a staff around the wagon. He looked at it from different angles, adjusted things here and there, and finally came and stood by me, satisfied. "Let's go." he said, and started off. I whirled around and hurried after him.

The foliage was thicker the farther we went, and it became more and more difficult to fight through the plant life. After what seemed like days of battling springing branches and thorny thickets, we finally made it through to something that seemed like a clearing. There was an indistinct form in the middle, lying on the mossy ground. I had the uncomfortable feeling that it was a body, probably half rotted and scorched. I was afraid to keep going, but Ridillyn did not seem the least disturbed.

As we reached it, I saw that it actually was a body. But what made it worse than what I had anticipated was the fact that it was perfectly intact, separating it from the burnt and earthy area around it. Ridillyn knelt down next to it and passed his hands over it a few times.

It opened its eyes.

xxxxxx

A/N: I know, evil cliffy! I'll try to update soon, but with projects due all around, not so likely.


	7. Death and Darkness

A/N: Yep, I fail at updating once a week. Well, it could have been worse, right? Thanks to all the people who did for reading and reviewing!

xxxxxx

"Oh bother, I am still alive." the previously dead-looking boy said.

"Isn't that a good thing?" I muttered, bewildered. A thoughtful expression flitted across his face.

"Perhaps. Where did I manage to come to?" he asked. I had no idea what he was talking about.

"What?" I said listlessly.

"You're somewhere in Keave." said Ridillyn. The boy nodded.

"Ah, you are the demon Ridel, son of the demon Karek and Vividia Aria." he told Ridillyn. "And you are Safirus Elio, daughter of Evalsi Elio and Merrill Normin." he said to me.

"What? No, my father was Andrak Fen!" I protested.

"No, no. I can see it, and your father was definitely Merrill Normin." he argued.

"Who are you? How do you know this?" I demanded.

"Why, I am Fate. And I am trapped in this inconvenient form." he replied. I noticed what I had not before; there was a pair of small, black, horns jutting out of the back of his head.

"Fate?" I muttered, puzzled.

"Darkness, my master." Ridillyn whispered. He knelt and bowed his head. "I thought you had been freed."

"I had, in essence, but I must die before I can be released from this body. There's a bit of a problem there. It seems that I cannot age or be killed."

"Oh, yes, I would agree that that is an issue, sir."

"What's this all about?" I asked. I was completely lost.

"Kite, this is Darkness, the god of fate, and my master from my previous life." Ridillyn explained.

"That about sums it up." said Darkness. "Although I am not in the best position to be answering anyone's prayers." he grimaced.

"Oh." I said, trying to process this unexpected information.

"Bother, I need spiritual energy to function in this form, don't I?" he sighed. "Care to offer me some?" Did he want my blood too? I groaned inwardly.

"I suppose." I said. After all, if he _was_ a god, it wouldn't do good to make him mad. He took my hand and closed his eyes. My insides turned cold, and my strength seemed to drain away.

"Thank you, Safirus." Darkness muttered, letting go of my hand. I was confused as to what had happened. Then I realized that he had simply sucked my spiritual energy from me. I supposed it was some godly power or something. I nodded. "Ridel, I sense anxiety emanating from you. Is there something amiss?"

"Well, a book of the Demonica is missing, and we are on a mission to get it back." Ridillyn said slowly.

"Oh dear, that is unfortunate. Hm, I wonder if I could use the emergency world collapse portal to escape back to the spirit world. What are your thoughts, Ridel? Speak."

"We need every book to create the collapse portal, but in theory, that should work."

"Splendid, then let us go and retrieve the lost piece of the Demonica, the gate to the spirit world!" Darkness said, sweeping his hands grandly. So that was what "Demonica" really meant, a portal to the spirit world. How strange! Darkness stood up and stalked into a thicket of trees. I hoped that his sense of direction was better than Ridillyn's. It was. Soon enough, we ended up back at the wagon. I had no idea how Darkness had known where to go, but it was probably godly intuition, or something of the sort.

As we came to the wards, we saw Clyde standing outside, banging his head in frustration on what appeared to be thin air. Ridillyn chuckled. Darkness looked on nonchalantly. Ridillyn waved his hands around and Clyde fell down face forward as he tried to hit his head again. He looked up nervously.

"Who's that?" he muttered, pointing dazedly at Darkness.

"It isn't really your place to know." Ridillyn sneered. Clyde flinched.

"Mind your manners, Ridel. You there, you can call me Thymas." said Darkness.

"I-I- my name is Clyde." Clyde stammered. Darkness walked over to him, and he recoiled. He held out his hand. Clyde took it tentatively and let himself be pulled to his feet.

"I think we should head off now." Ridillyn told Darkness.

"Yes, I agree. The piece of the collapse portal is approximately that way." he replied, waving his hand up the path.

"How did you know?" I exclaimed. That was amazing. "And is your real name Thymas?"

"It's spitting out some of the excess of the spirit world. I can feel it even from here. And Thymas is my aspect, the second aspect, not my name. However, my aspect is a formal form of address." he explained. That kind of made sense, like being called Sir or Madam. So these bits of the spirit world was what Ridillyn meant about the book having a distinct feel. The magic of it came directly from another world. Of course Darkness could sense it; he was a god, he had to have an immense amount of magical power. This meant that it would be easy for us to find it. It also meant that I wasn't as important to the mission anymore.

We climbed into the carriage, with Ridillyn driving once again. Once again, it trundled along at an excruciatingly slow pace, barely faster than walking. Darkness was lying on the floor, fingering his horns thoughtfully. His stomach growled loudly.

"Such an annoyance, this material body with mortal needs." he grumbled, sitting up. He inhaled sharply, eyes widening. "It wants blood, of course. That substance which links the body and spirit." Clyde paled at this pronouncement and huddled in his corner. There was a groan from the other corner. I looked over, and saw that Malcolm was now awake.

I sighed. This brought the total number of vampires in the vicinity back up to two, and that wasn't a thought that I relished. One was more than enough. And since Clyde and Malcolm were not in the ideal state to have their blood sucked, that left me. Sure enough, Darkness stood up and walked towards me, taking a seat on the bench. He took my hand and raised it to his mouth, looking at me with beseeching violet eyes. I nodded and sighed. As expected, he had fangs as well, and he used them to pierce the skin of my palm. I was ready for the pain, and managed to stay relaxed.

Darkness did not drink for very long. After a minute or two, he straightened up and dropped my hand. With some astonishment, I saw that the cut had healed without a trace. I marveled at the sheer magical perfection. I wondered if I would ever be able to achieve that.

"Are you learned in magic?" he asked me, interrupting my thoughts.

"Not really." I replied with a sigh. How I wished I was!

"I should teach you now, shouldn't I?" Darkness mused, sweeping his gaze over my surprised expression. "I'm not such a bad teacher." he added.

"Of course you aren't, you're a god! But you would teach me?" I whispered, wide eyed. I didn't care how stupid and childlike I looked.

"I would definitely. I like to see my subjects put their gifts to use." he said. "And there's no time better than the present, so get on your feet!"

I hurriedly stood up, nearly falling over when the wagon hit a bump in the road. Darkness grabbed my arm and held me steady, circling around me and looking me over. He muttered to himself all the while, poking me here and there. I squirmed. What happened next alarmed me greatly. Darkness threw open the wagon door, clamped his clawed fingers around the upper rim of it, and flipped himself up onto the roof in an amazing acrobatic display. I could see his shadow on the canvas as he crouched in the middle. It was remarkable how little his added weight affected the supports. There was barely even a dent in the material. Suddenly, he stood up, and there was a cracking sound. I cringed, but then I realized that it was from outside the wagon. The blob of shadow that was Darkness moved towards the edge of the roof and he swung back inside, slamming the door shut and latching it once more.

"Hold this." he said, tossing a stick at me. It appeared to be off one of the nearby trees, explaining the snapping sound I had heard earlier.

A few seconds later, he snatched it back from me. I wondered what he was doing. I saw that he now had a thin knife in his other hand. He ran it down the length of the stick, splitting it down the middle. Then he stowed the knife in the depths of his robes and yanked out a piece of his hair. Sandwiching it between the two halves of the stick, he closed his hand around it and beckoned for me to come over. He leaned down, and, without warning, bit into my wrist. I emitted a strangled shriek at the sudden pain. He grabbed my bleeding arm and let it drip onto the stick. I stared in shock as the halves rejoined into a whole. Darkness licked the rest of the blood away and I saw that again, it was as if I'd never been hurt.

"I apologize for that. Here's your channeling device, you'll need it for some magic." he informed me. I looked down at the stick that had been shoved back into my hands. There was no trace of blood, and it looked just like a normal stick. But to my astonishment, I could feel a faint magical pulse emanating from it now. So this was my wand? "The first thing you should know about wizard's magic is that theory doesn't do it justice. If you're interested in learning the process behind it, ask a witch." said Darkness. I was relieved; I wouldn't have to process any immensely complex explanations that used super long words with obscure meanings.

"So where do we start?" I asked.

"How about basic telekinesis?" he suggested. "You simply concentrate on an item, and imagine picking it up or flinging it. It helps to move your limbs along with it." he said, demonstrating by waving his arm and causing cushion to fly across the room. I stared at it and mimed hitting it, making it slam into a nearby wall. As I had suspected, it was the same as when I had threw Clyde away from me. Speaking of Clyde, I saw that he was asleep now, leaning on Malcolm, who was dozing again as well. Darkness raised his eyebrows. "You've done this before?" he inquired.

"Yes, actually. Not too long ago." I muttered. He nodded, frowning. Out of the corner of my eye, I spied the cushion surreptitiously floating back onto the bench.

"Well, you seem... talented at throwing things. Try aiming now. Go on, throw it at me." I shrugged. This time, I made a motion of throwing it at Darkness, but instead of hitting him, it hit the door.

"Oops." I muttered. He chuckled.

"You want to aim from the object's point of view. It's a little difficult." I responded by slamming it into his face. Now that I knew how it worked, I would be able to do it. I had always had good aim, having thrown various tools and pieces of wood to my father when I was young. The thought of my father brought in a flood of painful memories, and I stiffened. Then I remembered what Darkness had said back at the field. He had claimed that Andrak Fen was not actually my father. But who was it that he had named? I racked my brains, but I couldn't remember.

"Who did you say was my father again?" I asked. If he knew then, he would know now.

"Oh? Merrill Normin." That name seemed familiar. In fact, I felt as if I'd grown up hearing it all my life. Merrill Normin... Normin. As in Lord Normin of Inctum! I gasped.

"I'm the daughter of the Lord of Inctum?" I shrieked, shocked.

"No, that couldn't be. Merrill Normin is dead. By Lord of Inctum, could you be referring to his cousin, Esset Normin?" I felt another pang of sadness at the fact that my real father was dead. Wait, real father? Andrak Fen was still my father, for he had raised me for as long as I could remember, although he was dead too. But my _biological_ father was also dead. Still, it meant that I was related to Lord Normin, which was astonishing.

"How could I be related to Lord Normin at all? All of his relations, even second and third cousins, are living at Cyvit's castle. If I was his niece, I would have been there too!" I cried.

"Unless he didn't know that you were his niece." Darkness replied. Then it hit me. Andrak Fen was raising me, pretending to be my father. What if my real father, this Merrill Normin, had entrusted me to his care because of something he needed tending to?

"When did Merrill Normin die?" I asked urgently.

"So many of my people die every day, it's difficult to remember. I believe it was around 1248." he responded. That was over fourteen years ago, which would have made me nearly one. That meant that Merrill died shortly after leaving me with Andrak, for whatever reason. But was I even left with Andrak at all? Perhaps it was like in those tales where children are left out in baskets. Maybe father merely found me out in the forest one day. However, that theory didn't really make sense. Andrak had always told me that my mother died giving birth. How could he had known that if he had just found me, abandoned, and why would he bother to lie about it?

"When did my mother die?" I asked again. A sad expression crossed Darkness' face.

"Now I remember why she seemed familiar. I will never forget that day, the day that I was reawakened. The twelfth of Octavian, 1248 of the Draconian Era." he murmured. "In fact, Evalsi and her husband died the same day, in the forest fire." She died on the same day as Merrill Normin? That meant that she hadn't died giving birth. Maybe it was what Andrak had been told? But that didn't make sense either, because Merrill wouldn't have said that if my mother was still alive.

"It just doesn't fit together!" I groaned. Darkness still seemed to be lost in his thoughts.

"If your mother was the one who reawakened me, her story would be part of the world collapse portal. Just wondering, but which book of the Demonica was lost?"

"The last one, why?" He grinned.

"Then that lost book contains the memories of your mother and anyone else who touched anything of mine."

"What?" I gasped. Now I had my own reasons to want to get the book back. I wanted to know what really happened!

"Ridillyn!" A surprised voice called. I recognized that voice, it was cheerful... beseeching... Sirros.

"What a coincidence, I was just wondering how I would find you again." said Ridillyn. The wagon stopped, and I heard them chatting.

"Who is he talking to?" asked Darkness.

"Oh, his friend, Sirros. At least I think he's Ridillyn's friend." I replied. He nodded.

"I'll have to see him to know who he is." he said.

"You can just go outside you know."

"Of course." He proceeded to do just that, opening the wagon door and jumping onto the ground. Somehow, he made that simple action look elegant. I marveled at his strange godly grace. I heard an exclamation of surprise, and a gasp, probably from Sirros. Ridillyn made an introduction, and there was another sharp intake of breath. I decided to go outside myself.

"Hi Kite." said Sirros as soon as he saw me. I was glad that he still remembered my name. People had a knack of forgetting it rather quickly. I waved in response. Ridillyn snatched the wand, which I'd forgotten that I was holding, from my hand.

"What's this?" he asked, observing it from different angles. He gave it an experimental wave, and then dropped it, hissing in pain. Darkness chuckled.

"Lovely, isn't it?" he drawled.

"Shut up." Ridillyn snapped. "Sir." he added quickly. Darkness laughed harder. Meanwhile, I picked up the wand. What had it done to make Ridillyn drop it? It seemed completely normal to me, or as normal as a wand could be. Darkness saw me scrutinizing it.

"Since I used your blood to seal it, no one can use it but you. Well, and me, because my hair was the magical trace." he explained. Ridillyn scowled and crossed his arms.

"I don't recall her ever becoming your apprentice." he muttered.

"That's because you were driving while it happened." Darkness replied. Ridillyn sighed, shaking his head.

"At least I won't have to drive now. We'll be able to go faster with Sirros at the reins." he said. Sirros was busy hooking the cart onto the back of the wagon. When he was finished, he hitched Kysis up next to the other horse. The real horse edged away, snorting. Sirros winced. With a sigh, he moved over to calm it down. Darkness was already heading back to the wagon he grabbed my free hand and dragged me along. Ridillyn followed after. Clyde and Malcolm remained asleep. It seemed that all they did was sleep now. Well, it made sense, since they were captive in their own wagon.

"We should continue our lesson where we left off." said Darkness. I shrugged. "Why don't you try for higher control over the object? Move it around in different directions." I stared at the cushion, moving my hands where I wanted it to go. It floated up and flew towards the wall. I managed to make it swerve away at the last second, but it hit a different wall a moment later.

"How do I get it to go slower?"

"Follow the path you want with your eyes for now. You'll need to be able to do it blindfolded later, but we'll deal with that then." Darkness told me. I did as he said, staring at it. It sort of worked, slowing down considerably, but it made my eyes hurt, and as soon as I let my thoughts stray, it zoomed away and crashed.

I practiced with the cushion over and over again until I could get it to fly a full circle around the interior of the wagon. After that, Darkness had me make it do aerial tricks in the air. It was painful and difficult to roll my eyes like that, but I got the hang of it. Then came the blindfold. Darkness conjured it out of nowhere and tied it around my head.

"Visualize the object and its surroundings. Make it move like you did before." he commanded.

"Okay..." I muttered. I had some idea of where the cushion was, and started moving it. It rocketed into the back of my head and knocked me over. Ridillyn snorted. I directed it towards his voice, and a muffled grunt told me that I'd hit my mark. I heard Darkness applauding me on my right. Something whizzed by my ear and hit the wall with a thump.

"Ha, you miss--" and I was bowled over by an object much larger than the cushion. From the hard, sharp something digging into my shoulder, I deduced that it was Darkness. I winced as his horn broke through my skin. I heard two sharp intakes of breath. Then I realized that I was blindfolded and bleeding with two vampires very close by. I removed the blindfold as fast as I could. Both of those vampires were now right next to me and eying my bleeding shoulder. I groaned in frustration.

"One of you lick it before I get blood all over my clothes!" I snapped. Instead of lunging at me, they both looked at each other and politely offered the opportunity to the other. They were going to get stuck in one of those loops of politeness soon. "Sometime this century please." I hissed through clenched teeth. In response, Darkness shoved Ridillyn at me. He yelped, barely managing to avoid crashing into me. He glared briefly at Darkness, and then sat up and pulled my arm towards him, clamping his mouth around the wound. He healed me afterward, since I still had issues with that branch of magic.

"Let's stop for tonight." Darkness suggested. I nodded, levitating the cushion back to its original position on the seat. I walked over to the bench and lay down on it. Darkness came over and sat down on the edge of it.

"What're you doing?" I muttered.

"Well, I'm not sleeping on the floor. Move over." he said. Reluctantly, I pushed myself farther into the bench and let him lie down next to me. I was astonished at how innocent his boyish features looked, apart from the horns that jutted out of the back of his head. He opened one purple eye. I looked away, realizing that I had been staring. Sandwiched in between Darkness and the back of the bench, I decided to try my best to go to sleep.

xxxxxx

Dim rays of sunlight filtered through the canvas roof, bathing the wagon in a warm glow. I deduced from the color that the sun was setting. While Kysis was in silvaen form, the train of vehicles moved slowly with only one horse to pull it along. However, it had still made considerable progress during the day, and I could see the trees thinning out as we neared the edge of the forest. Malcolm was sprawled on the cot in the corner, while Clyde paced back and forth. Ridillyn was leaning on the wall with a bored expression on his face. I realized that Darkness was missing. I turned around and nearly fell of the bench in shock. He was perched on the back of the seat, balanced precariously on the thin rim. His eyes were closed, and he seemed somehow _absent_ from his body.

"We're almost to Port Oleus. Although, with luck, we won't even have to get to the town. Since we've been traveling mostly nonstop, we could even catch up with our query." Ridillyn informed me.

"That's great!" I exclaimed, perking up and mostly forgetting about Darkness's strange state.

"I do wonder what we'll do with these two..." he muttered.

"What you'll do with us? You don't have any right to decide what to do with us!" Clyde snapped angrily. Ridillyn slouched lower down on the wall.

"I suppose we'll just drop you off at the port. Since we have our own cart back, we will return your wagon." he continued, ignoring Clyde's statement. Clyde crossed his arms and bit his lip.

"Ridel, I bring bad and good news." whispered Darkness. I looked over at him. He had finally gotten off of the back of the bench, and now was sitting on it normally with a grim expression on his face.

"Let's hear the good news first." murmured Ridillyn.

"Well it ties in with the bad news, really. In any case, the good news is that I have most of my godly Vision, even trapped in this world. The bad news was received by using my Vision. Ridel, your father, Karek, has died." Darkness said.

"Why is that bad news?" Ridillyn asked. I was bewildered. How could the death of his father not be bad news?

"I know that the death of a demon in the mortal world is usually a good thing, but don't you see the problems this presents us with? Ridel, you are now the king of Sonfun. That means you are needed back there! The country can't run itself!"

"Can't my uncle take over for a while?" Ridillyn muttered. I didn't even know that he had an uncle! Then again, I realized that I didn't know much about him at all.

"Fabien died too." Darkness said simply. Ridillyn nearly fell over.

"How? It's not every day that two vampires in perfect health drop dead at the same time!" he shrieked.

"I think something might have happened at the citadel."

"You think? Can't you make sure?" Ridillyn was nearly howling.

"I said I had most of my Vision. I can't see far off places physically anymore, which makes sense, since I happen to be in the physical world." Darkness replied patiently.

"I have to go back! What if Inctum invaded us? What if the humans from the Isle of Dreams managed to sail over and destroy us with their technology? What if there's been a peasant revolt?"

"Now you're being ridiculous, Ridel. There aren't enough people or resources on the Isle of Dreams to destroy even one village. The peasants of Sonfun don't have a reason to revolt. Besides, if they did, the necromancers stationed in each town can easily stop the uprising. And if _they_ were the ones trying to overthrow the king, I would have known immediately."

"Inctum still could have invaded."

"I suppose that's true. You should go back and make sure everything is alright." Ridillyn hung his head in despair. When he looked up again, I saw real fear flicker across his face for the first time.

"What if I don't come back?"

xxxxxx

A/N: *Sniff.* I have some sort of inability to end a chapter well without something cliffy-esque. Anyways, the new character was needed, and if you don't like him, well, he'll go away soon.


	8. Clear Vision

A/N: O_O It's Tuesday. . I like, hallucinated about posting or something, because this chapter was done on Saturday. Waaa! Thanks to everyone for reading, and sorry for the second failed 'once a week' post. At least I was sort of close... kind of... not really...

xxxxxx

"Why are you afraid for your life, Ridel?" asked Darkness softly.

"Not for my life, truly. I am afraid for my kingdom." Ridillyn replied.

"But if your father died an unnatural death, which he did, he could still be on earth."

"But he wouldn't be. He had an heir, so he would have just left it all to me."

"You could anchor yourself back to the mortal world if you die, you know."

"If I died, I wouldn't want to stay back. The values of the demon Ridel are different from those of the mortal Ridillyn."

"You make a valid point. If you truly do care so, I can go for you. It'd be a miracle if I died." said Darkness. Ridillyn looked up again, a shocked expression on his face.

"You would do that for me?"

"Not for you, for my followers and servants who live in your country." Darkness corrected bluntly. Ridillyn merely shrugged.

"That's good enough for me." he muttered.

"I should be setting off then." said Darkness, and he jumped out of the back of the wagon. Dark, wing-like appendages unfurled out of nowhere, lifting him up into the sky.

"How did he just grow wings?" I asked, dumbfounded.

"Phaging cloak." Ridillyn answered. That didn't help at all.

"What?"

"It's a magical garment that can morph into a large number of useful things." he clarified. It would be nice if I had one of those.

xxxxxx

A/N: Switching to Darkness' POV, since nothing particularly interesting will be going on with Kite and Ridillyn, except that they are continuing on through the forest.

**Darkness**

I imagined soaring into the sky, pumping my non-existent wings. They soon became existent, courtesy of my phaging cloak. As I gained altitude, the warm air became frigid, and it was hard to see. Strong winds blew my hair about, effectively obscuring what little physical vision I had left. I gave up on my mortal eyes and shut them tightly to get them out of the way. I relaxed, sensing the spiritual drift around me. Deftly, I caught onto a strand of it, and my spiritual Vision came to life. Although it took extreme meditation to see far off places with my Vision, I was easily able to "see" any obstacles or living things that surrounded me, outlined in a colored blur.

So far, I had bumped into nothing. This was not surprising, since I was in the air. I directed my Vision downwards, towards the ground. To my left were mountains, rising up to pierce the clouds. Directly below me lay vast regions of forest, with occasional concentrations of mindful mortal life, which were presumably villages. I was definitely still in the far reaches of Keave, and I wouldn't be in Lytas until I reached the Incri Peaks, which were nearly out of the range of my close Vision.

I let my thoughts drift, flying nearly blindly now that I knew what surrounded me. I thought about Safirus, or Kite, as she was called. I had acted very much mortal with her, almost forgetting my status as the leader of the Thymas, a god. Well, there was nothing wrong with that, I was simply overwhelmed by the extra senses and needs of mortals. I sighed, the sound lost in the roaring wind that surrounded me. How I wished I was free of this body, free of the mortal world. Of course, as a demon, I would have completely different values and thoughts. As an almost pure Thymas, I was very clever. Too clever, really, for my own good. I always calculated every possibility thoroughly. I remembered every mind and soul that ever passed through my hands, and I made sure to answer prayers and requests carefully. Of course, as a mortal, my physical brain could never function so well, so anything that my mind knew that wasn't needed was locked away. However, I still had a mildly photographic memory, which was definitely very useful.

Whenever I caught spiritual drift, I could use it as a temporary container for my knowledge. I regained most of my godly mental abilities in this way. Unfortunately, if I lost concentration, I would lose the spiritual drift and go back to a normal, mortal state. This was inconvenient, because it meant that if I had to move my body consciously, I would switch back to normal. I was glad that flying did not require the use of my body, only the use of the mind to direct the imaginary wings. With my increased thinking capacity, I could easily do that and many other things all at once.

And so I thought about Safirus once more. I had known her name immediately; that meant that she was one of my servants in the spirit world. That also meant that she had much more than the usual sixth of Thymas. She was clever too, but that meant that she was deficient in another area. I wondered which it was. Was it Amathis? No, unlikely; she wasn't fragile or squeamish, and had at least the average amount of bravery. I didn't know if she had normal Cynthis or Darius, because purity was hard to prove, and there hadn't been an opportunity for her to rise as a leader. However, she seemed rather honest, which could be a sign of low levels of Imentis. The last quality, Redas, or awareness, was difficult to see in someone who hadn't yet attempted "reaching out" magically.

I myself was low in everything _but_ Thymas. I was content with my large helping of mind power, but I did occasionally wish that I was a better leader. I wasn't afraid to admit that I was a coward, which, once I thought about it, was sort of an oxymoron. I detested lying, and I was glad that most of my servants did not have much Imentis, because I would have had problems dealing with deception in all directions. In my mind, I didn't need a pure heart, because I was the god of death and fate. I would have had a hard time killing people off if I had a pure heart. Of course, I would have liked to have more Redas to fuel my Vision, but I was fine with my slightly blurred spirit sight for now. Thinking of which, I saw that I was already nearing the beginning of the Incri Peaks. I was flying at a ridiculous speed, tearing through the air with an almost invisible blur of flapping "wings." In any case, it was getting even colder, if that was possible. I deduced that I would have to land soon to cater to the needs of my body.

Fortunately, there was a settlement at the base of the north side of the Incri Peaks. I slowed my flapping, and then let my wings fold back into a cloak. I dropped like a stone, loosing altitude extremely quickly. I let my cloak tumble out into a makeshift parachute, and landed safely perhaps a mile from the town. It was dark, and most of the residents of the area were probably asleep. I started walking, moving in the direction of the cluster of mortals I had felt earlier, before my Vision dispersed. A shuffling sound reached my ears, and I froze, peering through the gloom. There wasn't time to use my Vision again. With rudimentary magic, I could sense that I was surrounded by six or seven living creatures.

"Give us all your valuables, and don't try anything funny. You're surrounded." A voice said to my right. Bandits; I had surmised as much. I turned slightly to face the speaker. The corner of my mouth curled upward. After the extra spiritual energy that my flight had expended, I was feeling rather peckish. Of course, I was scared- courtesy of my almost nonexistent Amathis- but cold reasoning overpowered any fears I had. I knew exactly what to do.

"I-I don't have anything at all! You can search m-me." I said, stuttering on purpose. A signal seemed to pass through the group, and the figure to my left stepped forward, grabbing me roughly and looking through my pockets. When he bent down to check inside my cloak, I let my body take over. I could hear the blood pumping through his body, tantalizingly close. I closed my eyes. My predator self growled and lunged, tearing into the man's flesh. He let out a bloodcurdling scream. Now, there were two main possibilities. Either the remaining bandits would run for their lives, or they would close in and attack. The probability of the second was slightly larger than the first, but it would still be hard to figure out which would happen. It all depended on whether these thieves had more Amathis or Imentis.

It soon became evident that they were indeed inclined towards Amathis. They pulled out sword and other various weapons, closing in menacingly. I forced myself to think rationally. I couldn't die, and if I did die, it would be a good thing. Therefore, it didn't matter how badly I was wounded, right? All the same, I would prefer to remain uninjured. The leader flew at me with his blade directed at my chest. I directed a clump of random, raw magic at him, knocking him back. The man's eyes widened.

Suddenly, I felt an awful, searing pain slide through my upper body. Someone had snuck up on me and plunged his sword into my back. I staggered, winded. The blade slipped out and I screamed out at the pain that it caused. All the same, I could feel my body repairing itself, the wound closing even as my attacker wiped the blood off his weapon. I turned around slowly, clenching my teeth. The wound was completely healed, but the remnants of the pain still graced my conscious. I heard my attacker gasp. I felt like ripping his throat out as well. I looked up, and gasped too. I had assumed that all the bandits were male. However, a pretty feminine face stared into my eyes. I saw fear in her eyes. I was alive, and she was afraid that I would kill her like I killed her comrade. I shook my head, groaning.

"I don't hurt girls." I murmured, cursing my lack of both Imentis and Amathis. I was too chivalrous, and I didn't have the backbone to change that.

"You think I'm weak?" she growled. I sighed.

"Just appreciate the fact that I don't hurt girls." I snapped. She stalked towards me with her weapon in hand, and made a gash across my chest. I closed my eyes and winced, but let her wound me. More blood soaked my clothes, but again, the injury healed immediately.

"What are you?" she whispered, amazed.

"Do you think I'm inclined to tell you, since you're using me to test your sword?" I muttered irritably. She responded by stabbing me yet again, this time in the stomach. I doubled over, crying out in pain.

"Tell me." she ordered, brandishing the blade.

"You're making me lose so much blood, I might just forget my manners and drink yours." I responded, regaining my composure. My wounds may have healed immediately, but that did not mean that they didn't hurt. She regained her expression of fear.

"You're a vampire, aren't you?" she inquired, stepping back slightly. I swept my gaze over my surroundings; the other bandits were stopped in their tracks, watching the proceedings. I shrugged.

"More or less, I suppose." I stopped moving, trying to shift into my Vision. I saw someone sneaking up behind me again, this time holding something lumpy that was etched in green in the landscape of my Vision. I whirled around, the world shimmering back to normal. The man who had been inching towards me froze, trying to look innocent. When I glared at him, he threw whatever he was holding at me. It bounced off my head. I searched around for it, spying it lying in a clump of short grass. I bent to pick it up. It was garlic. My mind immediately transferred information to my brain. Garlic was a mythical defense against the occult, used to ward off evil. However, it really was just myth, because it didn't seem to be affecting me very much. I tossed it back at the man who had thrown it at me. He was staring dumbly, and it hit him in the chest when he was too slow to catch it.

"H-how?" he stammered.

"Er, how what?" I returned innocently. The man was trembling visibly.

"Let's leave." said the leader, turning and running as fast as he could. The others followed without looking back. I snorted, and then sighed again. The town was still more than half a mile away, and it would be better for me to move faster. After all, if something had happened, I didn't want more Sonfians dying, did I?

Awhile later, I was walking through the town. I noticed how hungry I was. It was a shame that that woman had stabbed me so much. I could only prey on those who were balanced or had a lot of Thymas. If I killed those who weren't my own for no reason while I was in the mortal world, the other gods would be after me in the blink of an eye. I wandered farther, going in no particular direction.

Soon enough, I realized that I was moving towards the scent of blood. I mentally smacked myself for not figuring that out sooner. Blood meant that either there was another vampire, or someone was hurt. There was a much higher probability that someone was injured, because most vampires lived on donated blood or rimwood juice, since attacking people would just get them apprehended. I followed my nose, closer and closer towards the smell. I wondered if my body would be able to control itself from springing at the blood. In any case, it was too late to wonder, because I was already close enough to see what was happening. A small boy whimpered as a much larger one threw punches and kicks at him. He cowered in a corner of the alleyway, trying in vain to dodge the blows. Being able to see the blood did not make me much more excited, which was good. I supposed that I had been wrong in assuming that I had so little self control. Besides, wasn't it just like food to a normal person? Surely a normal person could control themselves from pouncing on their food whenever they were hungry.

"You little piece of crap! That's what you get for getting me an 'Average' on my homework!" the larger boy snarled, punctuating each word with a punch. The victim was in tears, crying out helplessly as he was beat to a bloody pulp.

"Average? But you can only expect another to do mediocre work for you." I said nonchalantly, stepping into view. The bully whirled around to face me. His face twisted into a nasty expression.

"Ha, another loser who wants a beating? Who are you, shorty? I haven't seen you around before." he snarled in an arrogant voice. The smaller boy opened his eyes and stared at the scene fearfully, mouthing 'get away' at me. I shook my head slightly. There were advantages to this body. I was extremely small, which meant that many underestimated me by a marginal amount. Those who were perceptive noticed the tiny horns that stuck a little ways out of my hair and left me alone wisely, but those who weren't realized a little too late that I wasn't what I seemed.

"Tut, if you're so confident, then duel with me." I replied.

"Duel? You mean like a one on one fight? Deal. But if you lose, which you will, you give me eighty phaelox or I'll beat it out of you." he said. I smirked.

"Alright, but if I win, you owe me two pints of your blood." I told him. What? I was hungry. He looked at me oddly, but we shook on it, and he attempted to crush my fingers, an attempt that failed miserably. Any normal person would have backed off and ran away at the mention of the blood, but apparently this boy had little intelligence to match with his strength- which, by the way, would be nigh useless against my magic.

"Let's fight right now." he demanded.

"Let me fix him first." I responded, nodding towards his earlier victim.

"You're not going back home to get anything. I don't want you running away." he spat. I ignored him, already walking towards the small boy. Stopping in front of him, I picked up a strand of spiritual drift to recall my memories. Immediately, I knew who this boy was. I had been correct in assuming that he was one of my people.

"Anterr, are you alright?" I whispered, waving my hands over his wounds, which scabbed over. I made sure not to heal him too well, lest it look overly suspicious.

"H-how did you know my n-name?" he whispered, frightened.

"I'll tell you later." I told him. "Alright, we can start our duel." I said to the bully. "Oh, but first, what should I call you?"

"Peter." he grunted. "What about you, shorty?"

"Darkness." I replied simply. He narrowed his little eyes and snorted.

"Whatever, stop stalling and let's fight. And you, don't' you even think about running away." he muttered, the second statement directed at Anterr.

"Do stay for the proceedings." I told him as well. Anterr seemed slightly more at ease after my bit.

With a roar, Peter rocketed towards me, fist readied to deliver a smashing punch. At the last moment, I swerved out of the way. His fist collided with the brick wall, but the impact did not seem to hurt him much. He grunted in anger and spun around quickly, swinging his other hand over. I knew that I wouldn't be able to dodge it again. I concentrated on the air in front of me, willing the molecules to lose energy, for particle motion to slow, and an almost solid wall of milky hue materialized. Peter's attack nearly broke through, but it was enough to stop him. He gaped at the dirty ice in his hands, confused. I used his momentary distraction to begin my attack.

I had never specified what type of duel we would be having. Peter assumed that it was a fight, and I let him. I had more of a wizard's duel in mind. Of course, I wouldn't be aiming to kill, only to knock out. While Peter was in a state of momentary puzzlement, I stood still and let my Vision take over. I penetrated his mind, reaching out towards the metaphorical 'shut down' button. Unfortunately, before I could reach it, he recovered. Since he was not learned in magic, he could not throw me out of his head. However, while he was focused on me, I wouldn't be able to get to him. I had to distract him again.

I saw the blurred blob that was Peter fly at me with my Vision. Borrowing some of the power from the spirit world, I created a barrier of otherworldly particles around me. Peter bumped painfully into a solid wall of nothing, he stood there, bewildered, for a second. That was all I needed. I dove in and grabbed at his mental core, managing to close my imaginary fingers around it. I pulled, and Peter fell to the floor, unconscious.

"Well, it looks like I win." I remarked. All in all, it was one of the shortest wizard's duels I had ever been in. I hoped that he would wake up soon. I was even hungrier now, and he owed me two pints of blood. I didn't want to take it while he was still unconscious. No, that would be boring. I wanted to see the look on his face when I took my payment. But I had thinking mortal thoughts again. Sadism, helping and caring about others, those were all things of the mortal world. Even being _bored_ was a mortal problem, actually. There weren't such complex messages or feelings in the spirit realm.

And that is why I marveled how I'd _wanted_ to help Anterr with his predicament. Sure, he was one of my people, but that did not mean that I cared about what happened to him in the mortal world. I shook my head to clear it. As soon as I returned to the spirit world, I'd be fine.

"What are you?" Anterr asked, approaching me. I noticed that even he was taller than I was.

"Why don't you decide?" I responded, grinning slightly. He saw my teeth, then looked up and noticed my horns for the first time.

"A true vampire." he gasped. "A wizard, and your name is Darkness." I could almost hear the pieces click together in his head. "The Thymas god banished to earth?" I scowled.

"I wasn't banished. It was a dare. Not even I knew that I would get _stuck._ But you're sharp, Anterr. I never knew Lytians could be so knowledgeable in the so called 'occult.'"

"It's really not much." he said modestly. I shrugged, and began to heal his bruises. There I was again, _caring_ for someone else for no reason. "Thanks." I heard him mutter when he realized what I was doing. There was a groan from a few feet away. I looked over, and saw that Peter was awakening. I stalked over to him and glared.

"You owe me blood." I snapped. He gazed up at me woozily.

"What? Hey, it's you, shorty!" he snarled. "Why are you looking at me like that?" I realized that I was staring at him with a hungry expression on my face. I licked my lips and took a dramatic step towards him. He sat up and scooted back, afraid. This was fun. I enjoyed his fear. Of course, my actions were more for effect than anything else.

"You owe me blood." I said again, emphasizing each word.

"B-but..." he seemed to realize that he had lost our little duel. I pounced and grabbed him by the front of his shirt, slamming him into the wall. I actually had prodigal strength, and could probably have beaten Peter with no magic at all. But magic was easier and more amusing. With haste, I bit him and began to drink, gulping the blood down. Once I had taken the estimated two pints, I dropped him and healed the wound- slightly.

"Well, I really must be off now. Anterr, you should return home." I advised the boy. I turned on the spot and my phaging cloak reformed into a pair of giant wings. With a couple of hard flaps, I was back in the air. I had no time to lose. My stop in the town had been long enough, and it was time I continued on my way. The state of Sorimunt began south of the Incri Peaks. The capital of Lytas was in Sorimunt. South of that lay the Medri peaks, which then led into the desert of Voxith after Rodym lake, the last bit of aboveground fresh water for awhile. The state of Voxith was ruled over by a man named Hafral Xen. The Xen mountain range was named after his family. Finally, south of that, was the gate to Sonfun. I was already passing over the Incri Peaks. I would be going over very little of Sorimunt, since it was located in a more eastern position. I wanted to get to Sonfun as fast as possible.

The air above the mountains was freezing, and as most of my phaging cloak was going into the wings, I had little to protect me. I had the hood over my face to avoid being smacked by debris, and I was using my Vision again to see. As the minutes went by, I felt the temperature dropping more and more. If I continued on at this altitude, I could literally freeze. However, if I flew lower, I could be seen. Then again, did it matter if I was seen? I swooped down, reveling in the immediate warming of the air. I could already see the farms located at the foothills of the Medri Peaks. The people on the ground were indistinct specks, and the farmhouses only as large as a fingertip.

The mountains rose up before me, silhouetted in the rising sun. I couldn't move as fast at the altitude I was at, since I had to dodge birds and avoid clouds. Still, I would much rather go a little slower than be a flying ice cube. Flying was rather boring, after awhile. Especially when I was actually _going_ somewhere instead of just winging around in a circle. I barely paid attention to what I was doing, only steering myself occasionally in the correct direction when I veered to far off course. That was why I did not notice the crossbow bolts that whizzed past me and tore holes in my wings. That was bad. I swerved sharply, spiraling downward. I tried in vain to repair my cloak magically. Magic like that did not work well under stress. I panicked, thrashing around. The inevitable impact to the ground came, and it was horrible. Burning pain radiated through my nerves, and I felt like every single bone I had was cracking, including my skull. I smelled the coppery scent of blood, my own blood, and fought to stay conscious. If I was unconscious, I still wouldn't die, but I wouldn't heal either. And that was painful and awkward. Still, as hard as I tried not to, I fell into the depths of blackness.


	9. The Last Book

A/N: Yep... you can say it, I suck!!! I haven't updated in forever, literally! It's been what? 4 months? Well, I procrastinated, and then got a writers block. I rewrote part of this chapter at least 15 times before I decided on a fitting situation. Hahaha, but at least I didn't kill the story. In any case, this is the end of this story. The prequel/sequel will be going up pretty soon. The first chapter may be pretty short, but the rest will be normal update length.

**Kite's Point of View**

The carriage was approaching the outskirts of the port town. The air was tinged with a salty tang, and there was a slight breeze. We stopped the wagon at the official entrance to the town. As promised, we hitched Kysis to our cart and returned the real horse and wagon to Clyde and Malcolm. Ridillyn smiled coyly and waved goodbye with the tips of his fingers. Clyde looked like he wanted to hit him and scream profanity, but it appeared that he dared not do so.

It was nearly dawn. We would find a decent inn with a stable, and then set about searching on foot. Sirros of course, would stay put. Ridillyn seemed for the most part back to normal, whatever that meant. However, he did tell me rather bluntly that if we didn't find the book now, we would be pretty much screwed, because if it made it overseas, we'd never be able to find it. Now all I could do was pray for a stroke of good luck. The only problem was that I wasn't sure who I could pray to.

Apparently, it didn't matter, because Ridillyn and I noticed the same thing at once. There were odd vibrations in the air, as if energy was pulsing through the area. Ridillyn stiffened beside me.

"Is it the book?" I inquired excitedly. He frowned and nodded his head slowly. His eyebrows knit together, and he squinted. Finally, he slapped his hands to his ears and clenched his teeth tightly, as if in pain.

"This is bad." he muttered, stumbling as he walked. I was confused. Ridillyn seemed to be in agony; he was trembling visibly, and his breathing was labored. I could feel the waves in the air, but they weren't really affecting me at all.

"What is it?" I asked him, gasping as he stumbled again and nearly fell over. I managed to catch him before he landed on the ground.

"Cover... my... ears..." he panted. His eyes were rolling back into his head. I lowered him to the ground and did as he asked. He seemed to feel better at once. "That frequency is..." he stopped to take a breath, "nothing short of torture to hear."

"What do you mean? I don't hear anything." He didn't respond. Well, that was foolish. Of course he couldn't hear me, I was covering his ears. But he seemed to understand what I meant.

"It's out of your range of hearing." he explained. "And it shouldn't be affecting you anyways."

"What is it?" I asked, before realizing again that he still couldn't hear.

"It's a fairy, singing at the top of his voice. That way." he rasped, pointing in the general direction of west. We made our way along the road slowly, receiving many odd glances. Ridillyn was leading, with me behind him with my hands over his ears. His hands were clamped over mine, in an attempt to keep out as much sound as possible. As we went along, Ridillyn seemed to become more and more agitated, before he finally collapsed onto his knees, groaning in pain.

I opened my mouth to say something before I remembered again that he _still _couldn't hear me.

"Keep going!" Ridillyn urged, although he seemed unable to stand on his own. I couldn't take it anymore.

"Why don't we go back, if you're in this state?" I suggested loudly. I would have probably gotten more weird looks, except I realized that there was no one else on the street. Apparently, the strange waves that no one could hear were making people uneasy, and they had all moved away from the source, whether they were conscious of it or not. I felt Ridillyn's head shift from beneath my hands. He was shaking his head. Unbelievable!

"We're so close, we have to get there!" he cried out. I was about to force him to go back when he suddenly stood up by himself and peeled my hands from his ears. He looked around cautiously.

"Did it stop?" I asked. He nodded.

"Be careful." he whispered. We moved warily, peering around every corner before proceeding. We were about to round another bend when Ridillyn stopped and put a finger to his lips. I peeked behind the wall of the building we were passing. A large, colorfully painted caravan of sorts was stopped next to the wall. I could feel a strange magical thrumming from within, the likes of which I'd never felt before. I realized wit ha start that it was the book.

"Come on, let's go." I whispered. Ridillyn shook his head.

"It's too quiet, it could be a trap." he muttered. I groaned in frustration.

"So what if it is? We have to try!" I hissed. He shrugged.

"Well then, here goes." Before I could react, he had whipped out his wand and cast a spell. I felt a familiar queasiness in my gut, and realized that we were for the most part invisible, just like when we infiltrated the caves of the Nolls. We inched towards the caravan. Closer... closer... almost to the door...

"AHHH! You great big--" came a screaming female voice from inside. I flinched in surprise.

**Darkness' Point of View (Happening Simultaneously)**

I gradually regained consciousness, suddenly aware that there was something hard and cold pressed up under my arm. Awkwardly, I maneuvered my limbs around so I could get off of it. As it turned out, it was a crossbow bolt. Immediately, I remembered the events that had led up to my crash landing. Hurriedly, I scrambled to my feet and looked myself over, judging the damage. Surface wounds and broken bones had healed, but I could still feel phantom pains when I moved. My phaging cloak had repaired itself, and it whispered to me impatiently, rustling and billowing about despite the lack of a breeze. I studied my surroundings. I had landed in an uninhabited grassy plain, uninterrupted for miles and miles as far as I could see. That brought up the mystery of where the crossbow bolts had come from at all.

My cloak flapped at me, reminding me of the task at hand. It was imperative that I made it to Sonfun as quickly as I could. Silently, I commanded the cloak to form into a pair of massive black wings, easily capable of churning through the air at high speeds. However, before I even finished my second power stroke down, my head slammed painfully into something I could not see. Instantly alert, I summoned my magic to my fingertips.

"Lissonil spelldi, waaway sapardis nishvan." I chanted, infusing each syllable with power. As I expected, the environment around me dissolved into a vastly different one, that of an underground cave.

"Tut tut, someone's senses are a little rusty." an amused voice said behind me. I froze on the spot. My wings melted back into the shape of a traveling cloak. I turned around slowly, dreading the face I would see. It was _him_, but it was the face of a woman. But I could see _his_ features clearly, even in the softer and rounder curves. Slitted pupils watched me, glowing in an intense violet. The thin eyebrows and sharp nose were the same. The hair was longer, but in the same dirty blond color and ruffled style. I almost expected to see furry cat ears and horns protruding from the sides of his/her head, but there was only a pair of human ears. He, or she, smiled smugly.

"You!" I rasped, raising my hand shakily.

"What, unhappy to see your own brother? Or should I say, sister?" 'she' smirked.

"You're not my brother!" I hissed. "Not since you sided with the fairies." 'She' laughed, batting 'her' eyelashes playfully.

"Oh, don't worry; I'm mortal and material, kind of like you, except I didn't go messing anything up. I even have an earthly sister, but she's not one of us- not a god. Just a plain old human with big dreams."

"Let me go, you imbecile." I snapped. This was not the best time to be chatting with my long lost brother in a dingy hole.

"Well, someone's rude." 'she' muttered. "I'll tell you what happened to your beloved followers, free of charge. I merely took the life forces of those two demons, using them to create my own place in the mortal world. Now I know that it wasn't worth it. Still, I doubt they minded." I glared at 'her,' but really I was relieved that nothing had happened to Sonfun itself. I wasn't worried about my so called brother lying-- he was just like me. He could never have lied with so straight a face, even if he had been under the influence of fairies for an extended period of time.

"The book, the last piece of the collapse portal. Your lot had something to do with its disappearance, didn't you?" I snarled. I wasn't in the mood to speak diplomatically.

"So quick to suspect, dear brother. Certainly, one of _my lot_, as you call them, was trying to steal it, but it certainly had nothing to do with me. His name is... oh, I can't remember, but he's a renegade fairy. Kill on sight, I believe was the order from the Queen." 'she' replied. I sighed. Fairies _were_ ruthless, but I wasn't going to complain when the target was mutual.

"I'll be going now." I muttered, summoning my magic once more. I opened my wings and flapped hard, using my magic like a drill to drive through the rock. I was too out of sorts to use anything but brute force.

"Oh, and the sister I was telling you about. She's involved too!" my brother called after me with a sneer. I turned to give him/her a scathing glare, but he/she was already gone. No matter, I would get out of this miserable hole and get that book back as soon as possible."

**Kite's Point of View**

Ridillyn and I dared not move further, and our prudence was rewarded. Out of the back of the caravan flew a spitting and hissing mass of limbs, clawing at the air furiously even as it landed with a sickening thump on the cobblestones before us. Dark blood oozed from the pile, which moaned in pain.

"That's what you get for disobeying the Queen, you filthy traitor. I always hoped to be the one to finally kill you. Idiot lowlife, attempting to obtain immortality that was never yours to have." spat a figure standing just inside the caravan.

"H-How? A human..." the quivering thing lying in the pool of blood gasped, raising a claw to point.

"I should de-wing you for your impudence. But you're going to die anyways, so I won't bother. You don't recognize your own fai commander? Pathetic."

"You call me p-pathetic, b-but you don't kn-know what it's l-like t-to know th-that you'll b-be g-gone just l-like that wh-when you d-d-die. Y-You c-c-creat-tures with i-immortal souls w-will n-never know my d-d-desp..." suddenly, the thing gave a great shudder and took its last breath going limp.

"Hmph, disgusting." muttered the person in the caravan.

"What, the demon book! Where is it? Aha, sister, shame on you for trying to stop me!" cackled another desperate sounding voice from inside. The first person backed away nearer to the doorway, and I could see her face now. She had catlike violet eyes, remarkably similar to those of Darkness. Her hair was a dirty blond, framing her face. Her features were twisted in a mixture of surprise and outrage. A blurry mass barreled past her and out of the open door, carrying the distinct a rectangular object- the book! I whirled around to chase after it, and felt Ridillyn do the same beside me. However, before either of us could do anything, a disheveled black bundle fell from the sky and rocketed straight into it. It took me a moment to realize that it was Darkness.

"Tsk, shabby landing. But I suppose it did the job, albeit sloppily." the first girl called out snootily to the pile that was Darkness, still tangled up with the second girl but holding the book triumphantly in one hand, out of reach of the flailing female.

"Just like you to criticize me in a time like this. Why? Why are you not trying to stop me?" he rasped, smacking the struggling girl under him and knocking her out.

"Do you want me to? Besides, what motive could I possibly have? I'm not lowlife filth like that." the first girl muttered, waving towards the corpse of the creature she had killed earlier. "I am one of the fai. We watch, we listen, and we do what must be done."

"I will never understand you, brother." Darkness sighed, getting up and dusting himself off. Wait, brother? But he was talking to a girl!

"Well, I'll be off." she, or he, said lightly, pulling out a wand and waving it in the air. She/He vanished. I felt a weird sensation in my stomach. Ridillyn was now clearly visible, and so was I, I realized.

"Sir, are you alright?" Ridillyn muttered, already running for Darkness.

"Yes, I'm fine. We need to round back to Kastinon, and quickly."

"What about Sirros and Kysis?" I inquired.

"We can come back for them later." he replied. I shrugged. Although it seemed kind of mean to leave them here, I knew he was right. Now that we had the book, it was imperative that we returned it to the citadel as fast as we could. Ridillyn was already holding his jar of powdered everlasting ice in hand.

"Kite, why don't you come over here? Watch me set this up closely. Remember the steps. I know you've already seen this done a couple of times, but it's always good to analyze each action." he said. I walked over to where he was setting up the pentacle and did as he said. Once he was finished, we stepped into the star and he shouted the incantation and destination, and the world went up in smoke. We were dumped out at the gates of the castle. I saw Archwizard Lanveld in the distance, rushing up to greet us.

"Did you get it?" he asked urgently, his frown breaking into a smile when he saw the book clutched in Darkness' hands. Then he looked up at Darkness himself and faltered slightly. "This is... this is--"

"Darkness." supplied Darkness himself, smiling toothily. Lanveld bowed before opening the gates and ushering us inside. We walked swiftly up to the castle itself, hoping to get the book back to its rightful place as quickly as possible. We hurried through the corridors, stopping only when we reached the 'dead end' where the entrance to the termite passage was. Lanveld proceeded to cast a spell, and I felt the familiar falling sensation before I landed in a foggy nothingness.

_"The archives." _I thought as hard as I could, and soon enough I found myself walking along a concrete corridor. I was joined seconds later by the rest of the group. We continued on down the corridors towards the Sonfian Archives. The building was huge, and if it weren't for Lanveld's extensive knowledge of the place, we would have gotten lose extremely quickly. However, we managed to get to the entrance to the section of the Archives where the dangerous and rare or unique books were kept. Of course, Lanveld, Ridillyn, and Darkness had clearance and easily got us through. We made our way to the 'D' section. Sitting in a neat row, all on one shelf were 6 books, all identical to the one we held in hand. Ridillyn and Lanveld stepped aside, and I hurried to do so too. Carefully, Darkness removed each book and laid them all down on the floor in a circular formation. He placed the last book, the one we had just recovered, in a space at the 'bottom' of the formation.

"Something is wrong." he muttered.

"Took you long enough, little brother." All of us froze and turned slowly. There stood the girl we had seen before, the one who was supposedly the 'brother' of Darkness.

"Itaph... not you again! Tell me, what have you done with the last book of the Demonica? I realize now that this one's a cleverly disguised fake. How did you get its magical signature to be so similar? And moreover, where did you learn to lie so well?" Darkness asked, somewhat sardonically.

"I was always better at things than you were. I would've been the Master of Thymas if I wasn't already the Ma-- God of humans. As it is, I don't see how everyone else could all be dumber than you, because you really aren't that clever." the girl snarled bluntly. "As for the book, it's right here." she said, pulling it out from behind her back and waving it around casually.

"How do we know it's not another fake?" I demanded. She laughed and walked towards us. Ridillyn moved in front of me, as if to protect me. I was touched by the apparently unconscious gesture.

"Stand aside, brother. I'll open your portal for you."

"If you were going to do this, why didn't you give us the book anyways, in the first place?" Darkness snapped angrily. His hair was nearly standing on end.

"Obviously, I needed a way to go with you. I couldn't have just asked you to take me with you, doubtlessly you would have refused. I merely was bored of the human world. So I gave you the fake so you could lead me to the archives. After all, I couldn't have found it otherwise. And now I have the real book so the portal can be opened. I have to say, my mortal sister got in the way quite a few times, going on her own whims. Such an annoyance." she said calmly, placing the book where it belonged in the formation. She and Darkness stepped into the space in the middle. "Mutatci demonica lario otrethona drowl." she chanted.

A wind seemed to pick up in the area. Each of the books flipped open and blinding red light filtered through the area.

"No!" someone shouted. It sounded like Ridillyn. Through the brightness, I saw something hurtling outward, crashing into a bookcase nearby. There was another screamed "NO!" before the wind, as well as the glaring light died down. To my surprise, Darkness was still here. He was the one who had been thrown bodily into the bookshelf. I looked around. Lanveld was on the ground, blinking and shaking his head as if to clear it. Ridillyn... Ridillyn was gone.

"That imbecile! He pushed me out at the last minute!" Darkness shrieked in frustration, slamming the bookcase with his fist. The wood splintered and his hand went through.

"Don't you dare talk about Ridillyn that way!" I shouted at him. I then realized what I had said, and who I had said it to. Why did I care what he said about Ridillyn? _Was it because we were friends?_ But were we?

"I'm not talking about Ridel; I'm talking about Itaph, my jerk of a brother! He threw me out of the circle! Wait... where is Ridel?" Darkness muttered slowly, standing up and rearranging the books that had fallen off of the shelf he had landed in.

"He dis... he disappeared." I murmured. Darkness groaned, closing his eyes and massaging his temples.

"I was planning on waiting for the portal to stabilize to just use it myself again, but it seems like it won't be that simple. Ridillyn's been pulled through back into the spirit world, back before his time. We have to get him back, or at least do something! As of now, there is no rightful heir to the Sonfian throne!

"But what can we do?" I muttered under my breath. The situation seemed hopeless. There wasn't a way to get back out of the spirit world in one piece. If anyone living went through, they would die. It was that simple.

"Theoretically, if we could somehow create a portal to _return_ to the mortal world, everything would work out just fine. That way, we won't lose our bodies and will not be reborn." Darkness said slowly. "However, we don't really have the means to create this portal. Additionally, if we are to find out how, we must do it as quickly as possible, for it will take only 7 days for Ridel to lose all of his humanity altogether. That is, Ridillyn, as you refer to him, would go back to being the demon Ridel, with no ties to the mortal world."

"What about us?" I asked.

"Well, it will take you seven days as well to lose your feelings for the mortal world. I, however, will merely go back to being my full self as soon as I set foot in the spirit world. What you see in front of you, the person you are speaking to, is a toned down and restrained version of myself. You yourself, in fact, have less knowledge than you do in your collected spirit form. If we do go into the spirit world, everything will come to you naturally." Darkness explained. I nodded.

"What do we do then?"

"Research. Kite, I would like you to read the seventh and last book currently in existence of the Demonica. I'm sure you'll find a few interesting things."

I picked up the book and set it gingerly on my lap. I took a deep breath before opening the book to the first page. The curled Gothic font was slightly intimidating. Emblazoned on that very first page was what appeared to be the 'title' of this chapter of the Demonica. "Rising Darkness..." I muttered contemplatively. I turned the page. The world around me shifted, and I was greeted by a whole new scene around me. I could still see Darkness and Lanveld sitting in the library, but yet there was another image, that of a court room, overlaying reality. In fact, I could even feel everything and hear everything in this new world. I looked down again at the curled script of the book. As I began reading, the scene played out before me.

"_Lord Normin sat on his gilt throne, twisting his graying beard in agitation. His son, Merrill Normin, stood patiently nearby, waiting for him to speak. 'Citizens of Inctum are considering-- imagine that, CONSIDERING moving, of their OWN FREE WILL, to that barbaric state bearing the name Sonfun. This must not happen! For the good of this state,' as well as his own pride, but of course the Lord did not say so, 'For the good of this state, we must stop them! We must show them, prove to them just how barbaric and disgusting Sonfians are. My son, you and your friends must go to that place and record your findings of barbaric behavior. Take these magic mirrors and go! Do not fail me!' he shouted, standing up resolutely. He called in his son's two most trusted companions- his best friend, Faith Marra, and his cousin, Esset Normin. Each was handed a magic mirror, a special recording device, and sent on their way. They were accompanied by Katori, the Magus of Lord Normin. The Magus was not actually versed in magic, which Lytians did not believe in. He was merely a wise scholar who gave advice to the Lord..." _I stopped there to let my mind process the information. The actual visual that came with the reading did help quite a lot, for it _showed_ me what had happened.

"You understand how that book works?" Darkness inquired. I nodded. "Good. You may skip the first part. It's merely the silly banter of the group. Why don't you go directly to the second... scene, if you will."

And so I flipped to the place where Darkness recommended I begin, and started to conduct this so called 'research.' _Yes, Ridillyn is my friend. I WILL save him!_


	10. Epilogue

A/N: The epilogue. Ties up some loose ends, really short. Think of it as an introduction to the sequel that I will eventually get to writing. In any case, the sequel-ish prequel begins from where the last chapter left off.

**Epilogue**

Darkness leaned over the parapet, surveying the nighttime streets of Kastinon. We were on the roof of the castle, taking a break. Or at least, I was taking a break. Darkness had been up here all night, doing something or another.

"Why..." he muttered, trailing off. It was the first time he had spoken the whole time that I'd been up here.

"Why what?" I asked, my curiosity piqued. What was he thinking about?

"Why did Itaph act like that?" he elaborated, sighing and burying his face in his hands.

"He lied to you, that's all. Is it that hard to believe?"

"Yes it is that hard to believe." he snapped, whirling around. "Itaph is my brother not in body, but in soul. He has characteristics extraordinarily similar to mine. That means he is clever and stubborn, but exceedingly honest!"

"People change." I supplied.

"Exactly. _People _change. But souls can never do that. They cannot reverse their attributes. And that's exactly what it seems Itaph has done. It's as if he was a whole other person, decisive and deceptive. And, come to think of it, he wasn't particularly stubborn at all. Then... there's only one thing that could have happened!" Darkness shouted. He was working himself up, getting more and more agitated. He paced back and forth across the roof.

"So what happened?"

"Someone's impersonating him! But still, that makes no sense. That girl was Itaph, I know it; no one could pretend to be him so well!"

"Well, didn't he have a sister?" I asked, sighing. Everything was so confusing! I had never known that Darkness even had a brother. It was never mentioned in any texts.

"His mortal sister was a human, nothing more. She was the one who created the plain fakes of the books, to throw us off." Darkness explained.

"Incidentally, if uh... Itaph was male, why was he born into this world as a female?" I asked. That question had been nagging me this whole time.

"Good question. This leads me to believe that his impersonator is female. No one wants to go through a gender change when they're reborn. That's just so strange. And besides, he or she wasn't actually reborn. His or her existence in this world was attained by trading off with the life forces of Ridillyn's father and uncle." he paused, his eyes widening. Then he banged his head on the parapet repeatedly.

"What? What's wrong?" I cried, jumping up to stop him. It was bad for people to hit their head like that.

"I've been such an idiot! It was both of them! That was why they had to kill off two people. They were two souls living in a single body. Itaph and one of the other fai. But that still doesn't explain why he kidnapped Ridillyn. Then again, it doesn't matter why, does it? There's a way now. Itaph and his friend left the spirit world in one piece by trading lives. That's how we can too!" Darkness exclaimed. I shook my head.

"Does that mean we have to _kill_ someone in order to get out of the spirit world?" I muttered, horrified.

"Yes." he replied indifferently. "So?"

"But... But... But, killing someone..." I spluttered.

"We'll trade with someone under my jurisdiction so other gods won't go after us." he said. I stared at him and sighed in defeat.

"That wasn't the point." I grumbled.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's GO!" he screamed, grabbing my hand and dragging me through the trapdoor and down the stairs towards the corridor where the entrance to the termite passage was. We came out in the archives and hurried for the section where the Demonica was kept. Darkness arranged the books in the correct formation and pulled me into the center. He chanted the same words that Itaph had said the first time, and we disappeared in a blinding wave of red light.


End file.
